Cave Paintings, installation view, 2015. Photo: Tom Horak http://www.philashcroft.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/DSC_1442-HDR-2s_700.jpg

Phil Ashcroft is a London based painter and graphic design artist. Ashcroft completed his illustration degrees at Harrow College of Art & Design and continued to post-grad work at St. Martins College of Art & Design in London. Much of his work draws influences from abstract expressionism, landscapes, and street art.

Ashcroft’s most recent exhibition Cave Paintings was held in 2015 at the Lewisham Arthouse in London. This work uses both color and grey scale in the abstract landscapes. The paintings have a unique divisions of the picture plane through lines that create geometric shapes, which suggests push and pull in the space. The dividing lines combined with the expressive paint marks relates to drawing in space because of the depth they create and the illusion of space. The painting below, Nexus 7, part of the Cave Paintings body of work, uses lines, edges, grey scale, and expressive paint strokes to create a landscape of abstract expressive paint strokes.

Cave Painting (Nexus 7), acrylic on canvas, 121 x 91cm, 2015. Photo: Tom Horak http://www.philashcroft.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/DSC_1427-HDRs_700crop.jpg

The view below of the installation shows Ashcroft’s attention to space and placement between the artworks in the exhibition itself that also relates to our theme outside the picture planes.

Cave Paintings, installation view, 2015. Photo: Tom Horak http://www.philashcroft.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/DSC_1397s_700.jpg

Below are more works by Ashcroft for Cave Paintings.

Cave Painting (Nexus 9), acrylic on canvas, 121 x 91cm, 2015. Photo: Tom Horak http://www.philashcroft.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/9_700px.jpg

Cave Painting (Small Sunset Variation 4), acrylic on canvas, 41 x 31cm, 2015. Photo: Joe Plommer http://www.philashcroft.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/DSC1531_700px.jpg

Citation: www.philashcroft.com/site/