CLAIRMONT, Philip;
Large Window Painting
Enlarge Image
1981–82
Oil and acrylic on canvas
1900 x 1820mm
Inscriptions: P. CT 81–2 [l.r.]

Philip Clairmont abjured landscape entirely finding his subject matter in the rooms he occupied. He frequently included his own visage in his works, representing himself as the obsessive artist apart from society—distracted, dishevelled, angst-ridden. In Large Window Painting, his face appears small and skull-like within a circle in front of a vase filled with flowers or paintbrushes. The space depicted is difficult to make sense of and filled with chaos, as if caught in a spiritual earthquake.
Exhibition History
The 80s Show: Paintings from the Fletcher Trust Collection, Tauranga Art Gallery Toi Tauranga, 1 July to 27 August 2017 (toured)