Phillip Rhys Olney

20.8cm x 8.5cm

Come Unto Me

£450

Hand-etched Stainless Steel Commercial Kitchen Prep Table.

A Little Bit About The Artist

A Statement From The Artist

Inter-generational labour lies at the heart of Phillip Rhys Olney’s practice. Hailing from three generations of dockyard workers, he consults the aesthetics of working-class culture - viewing the traces of ancestral and contemporary labour as a repository for legacies, stories and culture.

Olney’s works see labour as a vital component of meaningful art practice, and are drawn from the detritus of locations in which he has worked. In their reproduction and consolidation, these remnants interrogate the cultural role of sites of both traditional and contemporary working industries. Olney's latent attention toward sites of labour casts artistic practice within the workplace as political action, using materials produced 'surplus to need' through employment as indicators of the oft-overlooked yet generative practices within it.

Phillip graduated as a First-Generation University Student with First Class Honours from the University of Oxford and with a Distinction as Sir Frank Bowling Scholar at Chelsea College of Art & Design, alongside achieving his Level 2 Diploma in Bench Joinery at The Building Crafts College.
Most recently, Phillip has completed a three month Fellowship alongside the British Museum and a residency at Acrylicize, in collaboration with the Working Class Creatives Database. He has previously been shortlisted for the Brixton Art Prize, and longlisted for the UK New Artist of the Year Award.

Tell us about a dream you've had.

I was never taught to dream, and often, I go nights without any discernible or memorable dreams. I was taught, however, that I could achieve 'dreams' or ambitions through work and hard graft.

For me, then, dreams lie in a liminal space between an actualisation and hope for the future. Akin to "HALLOWED BE THY NAME"'s etched stainless steel, these glimpses of a future are observed only briefly, as light and perspective collude to reveal text. Originating within the labour of diverse industries, the works I present here cast artistic practice within the workplaces of today as revolutionary political action, striving obliquely for a better tomorrow.

Creating an arresting dialogue between the past and present, the virtues of labour and the hope gleaned from interpersonal relationships, my work consults the 'arena' of work as a locale wherein dreams occur.

What's your favourite movie or tv show?

Two Years At Sea (Ben Rivers, 2011).

What is your biggest influence on your practice?

I am a multi-disciplinary visual artist from Salisbury, working in sculpture, drawing, cooking and installation. Exploring the aesthetics of working-class culture, I view traces of ancestral and contemporary labour as repositories for stories and culture. I currently live and work in East London and have generated a community around me through my job as a Chef and Restaurant Manager. I see such labour for a wage as a vital component of meaningful artistic practice.

As such, my materials are the detritus drawn from the environments in which I have worked. My attention toward labour casts artistic practice within the workplace as political action and as indicators of the oft-overlooked, yet generative practices within it. Through this, I seek to encourage reflection on the role of 'work', its relevance and symbiosis with artistic production.

I am currently researching Diderot and D’Alembert’s Encyclopédie's lack of working-class representation as a dissemination of power over production - away from labourers themselves. This new line of inquiry views production within the workplace as revolutionary artistic practice. I am eager to materialise these ideas further, viewing and re-contextualising materials gathered through employment as symbols and rites of a labour-based faith. I aim to catechize ideas of authenticity, faith and relic through narrativized workplace detritus.

Phantasmal Gallery