‘The sun never knew how wonderful it was until it fell on the wall of a building’         Louis Kahn, architect

 Philip Archer’s new work is a drama of shadows and feints, reflections and glimpses,, shifting patterns of light and shade. He is a master of oil pastels, a medium invented for Picasso by his art supplier in Paris, Sennellier.

The oil pastels distil his subjects into tight, intense forms, often framing the landscape of Scotland or Le Langhe, Italy, with the geometry of the wall of  a house or a loggia, on the borders of inside and outside worlds.

Born. Cardiff
Education
1972 -3 Foundation Course, Cardiff College of Art
1973 -6 BA Hons Fine Art, Sheffield College of Art
1977-80 MA (RCA), Royal College of Art
Professional Employment and Interests
1991 – 2019 Principal, Leith School of Art
2007 – 10 President, Visual Arts Scotland
2006 -12 Judge for the Salvesen Travel Scholarship
2015 Contributor to Drawing and Painting: Materials and Techniques for
Contemporary Artists, Thames and Hudson
Lectures, seminars and talks to art societies, professional bodies, schools,
colleges, universities, radio and TV.
2021 Awarded an OBE for Services to the Arts and Education.
Exhibitions
1989 – 93 The Thackeray Gallery, London
The Boundary Gallery, London
The Bohun Gallery, Henley
The Muni Gallery, Pontypridd
1994 The Open Eye Gallery
1995 Voyages, Leith School of Art
The Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff
1998 The Open Eye Gallery
2000 Towards Byzantium, Leith School of Art
2002 The Gold Gallery, Edinburgh
2003 Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh
The Richmond Hill Gallery, London
Presence, St Paul’s Cathedral, London
2004 -5 Transformations , Leith School of Art

Visual Arts Scotland, RSA
Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff
Welsh Artist of the Year Exhibition, Cardiff
2006 Visual Arts Scotland, RSA
2007 The Flying Colours Gallery, London
2008 Visual Arts Scotland, RSA
2009 Visual Arts Scotland, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries
2010. November Collection, Edinburgh
2012 Leith School of Art Exhibition
2016 Persevere, Oseana, Arts Centre, Bergen, Norway
2019 Remnant, Gordon College, Mass., USA
2019. Departing, Leith School of Art
2023 Shadows and Reflections, Solo Show, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh