Philip
Lee has been performing with clay since 2003. Venues for his work
have included The Courtauld Institute, Matts Gallery, The Nunnery
Gallery in Bow, South Hill Park and the Design Museum.
Philip Lee has a BA in Ceramics from the University of Westminster (2001) and an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins (2007).
Philip Lee is a performance artist whose essential material is his own naked body. His work is the result of an obsessive investigation into the nature of bodies. Live performance is central to his work. His body is covered with clay and pigments, transforming it so that it hovers in a space between human and object.
An artist whose installations & performances integrate live body mark-making and sculptural display.
| 1958 | Born Peterborough, England |
| 1980 | BSc Geology, Chelsea College, University of London |
| 1981 | PGCE, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth |
| 2001 | BA Ceramics, University of Westminster |
| 2007 | MA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, University of the Arts London |
Lives in Buckinghamshire, works in and around London
Performances, exhibitions and other projects
| 2012 April | Slip and Sponge - live participatory performance at the private view of At Play 2012, at South Hill Park, Bracknell. Curated by Cally Trench and Dr Outi Remes |
| 2012 March | Triple Spin - live performance in collaboration with Ann Rapstoff and Cally Trench. During Remarkable Place at The Keep, Reading. Curated by Cally Trench and hosted by OpenHands OpenSpace. |
| 2012 January | Double Helix - by Cally Trench and Philip Lee, live performance with body paint, part of The Rubik's Cube curated by Iceberg Fernandez, at the Joiners' Arms, Hackney |
| 2012 March | Body Cell Slip - a durational performance with clay and charcoal. For Remarkable Place at The Keep, Reading. Curated by Cally Trench and hosted by OpenHands OpenSpace. |
| 2012 March | Body Fold - A one sheet, one fold book, exhibited at the 2012 International Contemporary Artists' Book Fair, University of Leeds, with AMBruno curated by Sophie Loss |
| 2011 November | Body Body Chair Slip - by Cally Trench and Philip Lee - live performance at the opening of The Re… Show, curated by Rekha Sameer |
| 2011 November | Body Chair Slip - by Cally Trench and Philip Lee - video |
| 2011 November | Chair Slip - by Cally Trench and Philip Lee - installation, part of The Re… Show, 12 - 25 November 2011, at Out of the Dark, High Wycombe |
| 2011 November | Slip and Chalk I, Slip and Chalk III - two videos part of Project 101 at LAB, New York 4 - 25 November 2011 |
| 2011 October | Spode Slip performance - by Cally Trench and Philip Lee, at the British Ceramics Biennial, part of Live at Spode and Context and Content - Ceramics Practice as Research Symposium |
| 2011 October | Boy Body Clay Pane - by Cally Trench and Philip Lee - at the private view of A throne is only a bench covered in velvet by Adam Marsh at South Hill Park, Bracknell. Curated by Outi Remes |
| 2011 September | Blue Home Grown - by Cally Trench and Philip Lee - An artists' book in homage to Roy Hay - Edition of 5 |
| 2011 August | Suffolk Rite & Somersaults - two video works by Cally Trench, Judy Goldhill and Philip Lee - Part of the Camouflage project August 2011 |
| 2011 June | White Phenakistoscope - White V - exhibited with AMBruno at the Chelsea Artists Book Fair. |
| 2011 May | In Praise of Zebra Crossings - by Cally Trench, Ann Rapstoff and Philip Lee, a street intervention using black and white body paint - Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, UK |
| 2011 April | Tied Slip II - by Philip Lee and Cally Trench - a live body performance with clay and black iron oxide - part of Divide and Rule curated by 'Roves and Roams' - at The Firestation Centre for Arts and Culture, Windsor |
| 2011 April | Tied Slip I - by Philip Lee and Cally Trench - a live body performance with clay and black iron oxide - part of Parallels & Connections - International Research Conference on Ceramics and Glass - at the National Glass Centre, University of Sunderland |
| 2011 April/May | Measure For Measure Flipbook - by Philip Lee, Judy Goldhill, and Cally Trench - a found copy of Shakespeare's play used to make a flipbook. |
| 2011 January | Blindfold Slip Private - a live body private performance with clay in collaboration with Cally Trench, at the University of Westminster, Harrow Campus |
| 2011 January | Body Bag Paint - a live body performance with body paints - performed at the Anthea Turner Prize 2011 in Camden on 23 January 2011 |
| 2010 October | Blindfold Slip III - a live body performance and installation in collaboration with Cally Trench - part of Exquisite Stone Corpse. A concatenation with 4 other artists at The Stone Squid Experimental Art Space, Hastings - included the video Slip Chalk Water. |
| 2010 October | Blindfold Slip II - a live body performance with clay in collaboration with Cally Trench - part of Performance at the Nunnery: Move Me! curated by Cinzia Cremona and hosted by Visions at the Nunnery 2010. - at The Nunnery, Bow Arts, London |
| 2010 October | Blindfold Slip I - a live body performance with clay in collaboration with Cally Trench - at the opening of Benjamin Cohen, HRL Contemporary solo show - at The Old Truman Brewery, London |
| 2010 September | The Camouflage Flipbook - a flipbook, which animates black stripes spreading down Philip Lee's body as he rotates and moves his arms. The book is part of the Camouflage project by Philip Lee, Judy Goldhill and Cally Trench. |
| 2010 August | Spiral for Bruno - a live body performance with black body paint and masking tape - in collaboration with Cally Trench - a private commission |
| 2009 October | Research Project - working title: 'Clay, Body and Performance: an investigation into the relationship between the human body and clay, in artistic activity, through time'. Joining the doctoral programme at the Centre for Research in Education, Art and Media (CREAM) at the University of Westminster. See also Ceramics in the Expanded Field |
| 2009 July | Slip Dipping I - live participatory action - part of Hop Skip - Liquid Studios, Hackney Wick - Hackney Wicked Art Festival 2009 |
| 2009 July | Camouflage - photographic collaboration with Cally Trench. Part of the Remarkable and Curious Conversations project |
| 2009 April | Colours I - live performance and installation - part of East Wing Collection VIII - On Time, at The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London |
| 2009 April | Sitting Slip I - live performance and installation - At Play 1 - South Hill Park, Bracknell |
| 2009 April | Stable VI - live performance and installation - Surface! - The Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock |
| 2009 February | Segments, a collaborative photographic project, published in Foto Kvartals alongside an essay by Marion Duquerroy - 'Mapping the Performance: Romain Forquy and Philip Lee's Segments' |
| 2009 January | Slip VI - video piece shown at 'The Joy of Clay' at The Design Museum, London |
| 2008 December | Stable V - live performance and installation - On the Surface - The Parlour, Kentish Town, London |
| 2008 October | White III / White IV - limited edition flipbook and envelope contain DIY cutout model, both illustrating part of Lee's White performances |
| 2008 September | Earth - video piece, in collaboration with Romain Forquy |
| 2008 July | Ophelius - photograph, in collaboration with Romain Forquy |
| 2008 May | White II - installation and live performance, part of East Wing Collection VIII - On Time at the Courtauld Institute of Art,, Somerset House, Strand, London |
| 2008 February | Visiting Lecturer - Institute for Arts in Therapy & Education, London |
| 2007 September | White I - installation and live performance - MA Degree Show, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design |
| 2007 June | Water I - installation and live performance - Act Art 5 - Till Death Us Do Art, The Arches, London Bridge |
| 2007 April | Slip XII - Private performance for video camera at the University of Westminster in Harrow. On-going documentary project. |
| 2007 January | Slip XI - installation and live performance - '11,472' - Central Saint Martins MA Fine Art Interim Show 2006 at The Barge House, Oxo Tower Warfe, Southbank, London |
| 2006 July | Slip X - installation and live performance - Central Saint Martins MA Fine Art Symposium 2006 - Matt's Gallery, Mile End, London |
| 2006 July | Slip IX - installation and live performance - Human Technology - Synergy Gallery, Camberwell, London |
| 2006 - present | Clay Pigment Film photography project, in
collaboration with Romain Forquy including: Splits, December 2006 (Online book Beating Time), Still I, June 2007 (auctioned on 6 July 2007) and Segments, May 2008 (published in Foto Kvartals, February 2009, along with an essay by Marion Duquerroy) |
| 2006 May | Slip VIII - live performance - Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design University of the Arts, London |
| 2005 November | Slip VII - live performance - Act Art 3 - Public Disordar, Central Station, Kings Cross, London |
| 2005 November | Photographs included in Intimacy - human people, completelynaked.co.uk - on line and at Campbell Works, Stoke Newington, London |
| 2005 Sept/Oct | Slip VI - installation and live performance - Pieces By Eight - London Gallery West, Harrow |
| 2005 September | Stable III - body print included in Anywhere in the World: David Medalla's London - ICA, London |
| 2005 June | Slip V - live performance - Fallen Angels - Kingston Rowing Club, Hull |
| 2005 May | Stable III, Slip IV - installation and live performance - May Fete with a Twist - Cecil Sharp House, Camden, London |
| 2005 March | Slip III - live performance - Hidden Voices - The Kingsgate Gallery, London |
| 2004 August | Stable II - live performance - Eros Arrows - group show at The Foundry gallery, London |
| 2004 June | Slab III - live performance - Area 10 Summer Show, Peckham, London |
| 2004 March | Slip II - installation and live performance - saprimaverdada - group show at Area10, Peckham, London |
| 2004 March/April | Sketch I and II - About a Boy - group show of paintings - The Drawing Room, Chesham, Bucks |
| 2003 January | Slab II Emergence II - installation and live performance - Mutiny - group show at The Barge House, Southbank, London |
| 2002 July | Riverside Centre, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire |
| 2001 August | Art in Clay, Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire |
| 2001 July | New Designers, Business Design Centre, Islington |
| 2001 June | Earth & Fire VII, Rufford Craft Centre, Nottinghamshire |
| 2001 June | BA Ceramics Degree Show, University of Westminster, Harrow |
| 2000 November | Slip I - University of Westminster, Harrow |
| 2000 May | Stable I - Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire |
| 1999 December | Sand I, Emergence I - Dagnall, Buckinghamshire |
Articles
| 2009 February | Marion Duquerroy, Mapping the Performance: Romain Forquy and Philip Lee's Segments, Foto Kvartals, 1(15) |
| 2008 January | Katy Blatt writing for a handbill for the performance of White II at the East Wing Collection VIII - On Time at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London |
| 2005 November | Gloria Tessler, Art Notes, Journal of the Association of Jewish Refugees - includes a brief reference to performance of Slip VI on 15th September 2005 |
| 2005 September | Janice West, Unearthing Something Interesting, Essay in Pieces By Eight, 2005, catalogue for group show of 'new ceramics' |
| 2004 March/April | Jo Dahn, Think About It, Ceramic Review 204 - introducing 'conceptual ceramics' |