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The life and times of Philip Malpass. ( in short )
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We went to live in Kentucky; a very 'blue-green,' semi- tropical place in summer, full of unfamiliar richly coloured birds and wild life that was so different from England's. I went off to school, but eventually, the grown-ups around me, decided to return to England. So we did, and once again, to my delight, I found myself aboard the good ship S.S. United States. We returned to the Harrow area and my life resumed its previous pattern, then; in the early 70s; I attended Harrow School of Art. Art School was not the place I expected. I went naively hoping to find and learn from "masters" but of course, found not one among the tutors there. The 1970's were times of 'do what thou will,' but don't ask the tutors how those old masters actually did it, because clearly they didn't know; couldn't do it themselves, and cared even less. Most of what I've learnt about honest art techniques has come from books and making countless trips to galleries and stately homes, and I say to anyone who wants to learn to paint, study the originals of masters first and get up as close as you are allowed. On leaving art school, I worked as a photographer for a local newspaper, followed by a diverse array of other jobs from selling insurance ( appalling at that ), to tree surgery ( loved being around and climbing trees ). But a painter is a painter, I guess, and cannot stop. I now live in the South West of England. My pastimes are history, archaeology and; since a boy; I have always taken a keen interest in wild life, and birds in particular. Like other artists, I suppose I am somewhat obsessed with drawing and painting, and have been so since I can remember. I am fascinated by the work of many of the great painters of the past. To single out some names over others is very difficult, but those I come back to again and again are men like, Gainsborough, Van Dyke, Bougereau, Millais, Alma-Tadema, Poynter, Lely, Moore, Boucher, David, and many, many more. As can be seen, my chief interest lies with the technically brilliant; the amazingly skilled. Do they influence me? Subconsciously, they always shall, ( well at least more so than say, Mondrian or Miro and other 'wallpaper designers', whose works; try as they might; manage to grab my attention for seconds rather than hours ). These days my art centers on a few favourite subjects mostly to do with the natural world ( straight lines weary my eyes ). I have always liked life-drawing and being outdoors in the land scape, so I like to combine the two subjects if possible. I take a profound interest in the mechanics of life itself, in all its many forms and often a Darwinian approach to explaining most of it. However, is evolution much more than a theory? Who really knows? I accept that a wolf has become a poodle, but did a sardine really become a whale? Fish to mammal? How long did that take? Lastly, back to art. I do not entirely dislike the abstract boys; in fact, I have every intention of maybe doing some abstractions myself one day, ( how hard can it be?) but in all my experience, I have to say, they are, more often than not, a completely different animal to the figurative artist. I brushed shoulders with many of their ilk at art school ( including many of the tutors ), and.............well.................is it me? Philip Malpass.
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Born to a large family in London, in
1953, I grew up in
Harrow, Middlesex, England, save for a brief spell in the early 60's
spent in the USA. My entire family left England then, and upon
the fast liner, the S.S. United States, we crossed the Atlantic in mid-winter. For me,
that was an
unforgettable experience. A seemingly endless grey
ocean, strong gales that felt like they might blow a small boy off the
decks at any moment, and the strangeness of living on a beautiful piece of
metal, in the middle of nowhere. I can still remember the statue of
Liberty, shrouded in mist, on that cold morning we arrived in New York City.
