Name: Philip Raymond Westcott
DOB: 3rd June 1951
Studied: 1962-69 Salford Grammar School, 1969-72 City of Leeds College
1980 September: Prize-winner - Salford Urban Art Exhibition
1983 April: Work accepted by Manchester Academy for annual show
1983 August: Winner of ‘Harold Riley’ award, Salford Show
1983/4 September: Ran Lantern Gallery, Worsley, with four other artists
1984 August: Featured on B.B.C. Television ‘Look Northwest’
1985 May: Contributed to exhibition on poverty, Chapman Gallery-Salford University
1985 July: Two paintings purchased for private collection, Salford Art Gallery
1986 January: 1st prize winner- Bury New Year festival art competition
1987 November: Prizewinner ‘Contemporary Salford’ Lowry Festival
1989 February: Work accepted in Laing Exhibition, Ginnel Gallery Manchester
1989 March: Winner of ‘John Clare’ Award Salford Art Gallery
1989 November: Work included in exhibition of Northwest Artists Salford Art Gallery
1989 December: Painting purchased private collection Salford University
1993: Invited to exhibit with British Watercolour Society
1993: Invited to exhibit with British Society of Painters
1994 August: Painting included in ‘A Return to Beauty’ exhibition Roy Miles Gallery London
1998 January: Invited to exhibit in " Images of Rural Britain " Exhibition, Blackfriars Arts Centre, Boston, Lincolnshire
1998 September: Work shown on Axis Web Site "New Artists"
1998 February-December: Work exhibited at The Lime Gallery, Laguna Beach, California
1999: Work shown in The Talent Search Gallery, California
1999: Paintings included in exhibition "Cheers! New British Art" California
2002 August: Invited to exhibit in 'Our Manchester' exhibition during the Commonwealth Games. The Blyth Gallery
2007 June: Exhibited with Art In The City at Stockport Art Gallery
Philip Raymond Westcott was born in 1951 and is a resident of Eccles in the City of Salford. He studied at Salford Grammar School and later at the City of Leeds College.
His work over the last 20 years has predominantly consisted of landscapes and cityscapes painted in oils around the northwest region of England. Philip maintains that Manchester itself has been one of his main sources of inspiration, and it is a tribute to his talents that he was the only artists invited into the Arndale Centre to record the devastation caused by the IRA bombing in 1996. He regards his work as a tribute to the northwest landscape. Philip Westcott describes his choice in cityscape scenery, "In these compositions I capture the indiscriminate figures that are loosely painted, merging with the scene, with fleeting glimpses of colour, often highlighted, to give the impression of a fast paced lifestyle. Concentrating on the busy shopping centres depicts the hustle and bustle of modern life."
In his landscape paintings, he tends towards hidden views of secret places rather than the more usual and traditional panoramic views. These paintings, according to Philip, "...show the peace and tranquillity which are to be found in isolated places of beauty".
Though abstraction has predominated the art world in recent times, Philip sees the landscape as having a long tradition in English painting - a tradition which is in danger of being lost in the modern media-orientated society. He believes that artists should continue to capture the landscape while it survives, before spreading towns and motorways destroy it forever. When painting landscape, many artists focus on traditional panoramic views. Although Philip Westcott acknowledges this valuable interpretation he has tried to capture the more hidden view in much of his work. His paintings show the peace and tranquility to be found in isolated places of beauty. People are absent , but the pathways indicate their passing presence. His paintings aim to be a tribute to the northern landscape.
Philip Westcott comments on his inspiration for painting landscapes, "Here my paintings focus on the hidden view rather than large panoramas. These are painted initially in watercolour and then translated in larger oil paintings. Freedom and spontaneity are and the use of a palette knife in these works allows me both. My landscapes are fragmented. As natural sunlight filters through the branches, the images highlighted are the colours and shapes of nature. I hope, by the use of texture, I have captured the depth that can be found in woodland scenes."
His interest in figures came about through observations at his local shopping centre in Salford. Originally, his concern was for the immediacy of the groups of people rather than the buildings of their environment. He has returned to the setting of shopping centers and precincts, but now giving more emphasis to the architecture and sense of space.
Philip's career is marked by many exhibitions, awards and honours, including being a Prize-winner in the Salford Urban Art Exhibition, First Prize winner in the Bury New Year Festival Art Competition and many others.
Apart from in his native Salford, his works have been exhibited in British Watercolour Society shows, the British Society of Painters, at the Lime Gallery and the Talent Search gallery in California, and in August 2002 he was invited to exhibit in the "Our Manchester" exhibition during the Commonwealth Games.
He has also held a host of solo exhibitions around the northwest and has been featured in numerous publications including "Art & Artists", "House & Garden" and "City Life" magazines.
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