Phil Collins (b.1970)

Drumcree #2, 2000

Lightjet print on Fuji Crystal Archive reverse mounted on Diasec

52cm x 68 cm

Courtesy of Shady Lane Productions

Born in 1970 in Runcorn, Phil Collins is an English artist, best known for his video art, now living and working in Germany. Collins graduated from the University of Manchester with a degree in Drama and English in 1994, after which time he moved to London, where he taught performance and film theory. While in London he joined the performance group, Max Factory. In 1998, he moved to Belfast to study for a Master’s in Fine Art at the College of Art and Design, where he was taught by Willie Doherty and Alistair Maclennan among others. Collins made a lasting impact on the art scene in Northern Ireland due to the active role he played in the artist-run collective Catalyst Arts. In 2006, he was nominated for the Turner Prize for his solo shows in Milton Keynes Gallery, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, and his work in the British Art Show 6. Since 2011, Collins has been Professor of Video Art and Performance at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.

Since the late 1990s, Collins’ diverse practice has addressed the act of image-making, examining how we participate in and understand culture through the camera’s lens. Characteristic of his approach is a close engagement with place and communities. Rather than static portraits, his installations, videos and photographs articulate the nuances of relations embedded in the aesthetic regimes and economies that define everyday existence, from news and politics to entertainment and shopping. Throughout, Collins’ work upholds his commitment to myriad forms of experience across the social spectrum, and an interest in the contradictory impulses of intimacy and desire within the public sphere.