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Alongside my painting practice, I produce object-based works that extend the conceptual concerns of my paintings into three-dimensional form. These have included textile panels with Dylan Thomas quotes coded into them using sashiko stitching, quilts designed and made specifically for inclusion in two-dimensional works, hand-made books and altered, found objects. Recent pieces incorporate resin teeth embedded in gums within domestic or decorative items such as nutcrackers, a meat mallet and shells, and a hair brush made of hair.
Philippa Robbins was born in London in 1964 and studied German at Sussex University. At the end of the 2nd year she returned home to look after her father who was seriously ill and following his death she chose not to resume her studies, instead settling in London and later Singapore with her partner to raise their two daughters. While in London, Robbins furthered her interest in photography, building a darkroom and learning traditional techniques from Doug Scott, the stills photographer for Elstree Film Studios. Her years in Singapore allowed her to paint almost full-time and to study at LaSalles SIA College of the Arts. Shortly before returning to the UK, a family friend, Penarth artist Branwen Thomas, daughter of painter Charles Burton, visited and encouraged Robbins to pursue art formally. Back in Britain in 2000, she completed a Foundation Course and subsequently a BA in Fine Art at Cardiff.
After graduating at 40, Robbins began exhibiting widely. Her work has been selected for the BP Portrait Award, the Hunting Art Prize and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and she has received awards in The Discerning Eye exhibition and the Royal West of England Academy Autumn Show. Her paintings have been shown at the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art Wales, and Beaux Arts, Bath. In 2020 she was shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize. Robbins lives and works in Penarth and holds regular solo exhibitions at The Art Shop and Chapel, Abergavenny.