Phil Lavery
- Work
- Biography
I am a visual artist based in Crieff, Scotland. Though my process begins and ends with words—often a poem, a quote, or a collected title—my practice is an evolving interrogation of light, shadow, and surface.
In earlier works, I was a hunter. My subject was shadow; my territory, the transitional spaces where art is displayed or made—stalking and waiting for a specific interaction of natural light and geometry. However, a heart attack in 2016 altered this trajectory. Through the series In The Broken Places, I moved from abstracting the world as I found it to constructing it. I began building temporary scenes, using the camera not to document, but as a printmaker uses a press—to fix the final image.
Today, my work starts in the studio with detritus—fragments of previous works and found objects—assembled into delicate structures on a tabletop stage. These forms are ephemeral, existing only to be transformed by coloured gels. I paint with light, capturing each piece in-camera with only refinements to hue and tone.
• • •
I am a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, BArch (Hons), an elected Professional Artist Member of both the Society of Scottish Artists (SSA), and Visual Arts Scotland (VAS), a member of the Glasgow Print Studio and the Society of Scottish Architect Artists.
Philip J Lavery
In earlier works, I was a hunter. My subject was shadow; my territory, the transitional spaces where art is displayed or made—stalking and waiting for a specific interaction of natural light and geometry. However, a heart attack in 2016 altered this trajectory. Through the series In The Broken Places, I moved from abstracting the world as I found it to constructing it. I began building temporary scenes, using the camera not to document, but as a printmaker uses a press—to fix the final image.
Today, my work starts in the studio with detritus—fragments of previous works and found objects—assembled into delicate structures on a tabletop stage. These forms are ephemeral, existing only to be transformed by coloured gels. I paint with light, capturing each piece in-camera with only refinements to hue and tone.
• • •
I am a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, BArch (Hons), an elected Professional Artist Member of both the Society of Scottish Artists (SSA), and Visual Arts Scotland (VAS), a member of the Glasgow Print Studio and the Society of Scottish Architect Artists.
Philip J Lavery
2026
SSA Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2025
Secret Coast Prize For Fine Art, Tighnabruaich Gallery, Tighnabruaich.
Irrwege, Kulturbunker, Stuttgart, Germany.
VAS Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2024
Street Level Photoworks Open, Glasgow
VAS Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2023
SSA Exhibition, The Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr.
SSA Exhibition, Caledonian Club, London
2022
Street Level Photoworks Open, Glasgow
2020/21
Flow, VAS Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2019
Solo Exhibition : Exploring the Liminal, The Barony Arts Centre, West Kilbride
Land Marks, Transient Collective, Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh
30th Anniversary Open, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow
Alight, VAS Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Open, Meffan Gallery, Forfar
2018
Solo Exhibition: Exploring the Liminal, Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh
Borders, Bridewell Theatre Gallery, London
Current, Tatha Gallery, Newport-on-Tay
Abstracts, The Close Gallery, Edinburgh
SSA 121st Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Shutter Hub Open, Old Truman Brewery, London & 5&33 Gallery, Amsterdam
SSA & VAS Open, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Royal Photographic Society Scottish Travelling Exhibition
2017
Art Gemini Prize Finalist Exhibition, Asia House, London
Connection, &Gallery, Edinburgh
Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Glasgow
The Close Gallery, Edinburgh
Shutter Hub Open, Retina Festival, Edinburgh
2016
Art Gemini Prize Finalist Exhibition, Asia House, London
Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Glasgow
Bright, Leeds
Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Shutter Hub Cambridge Open, Cambridge
Der Greif “A Process 2”, Krakow Fotofest Festival, Krakow
Selected Digital Art Installations
2011
On Wrecker’s Ball / All Wrapped Up (Invited Artist), Drawing on Riverside, Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow
2007
Maxwell’s Equations (with PJ Moore), Edinburgh Science Festival, Edinburgh
3D VJ (with RM*), Designers Block Festival, London
Made of Light, Radiance Festival, Glasgow
2006
Made of Light, Earls Court, London
2005
Made of Light, SIA, Berne
2004
Made of Light, RIBA, London
SSA Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2025
Secret Coast Prize For Fine Art, Tighnabruaich Gallery, Tighnabruaich.
Irrwege, Kulturbunker, Stuttgart, Germany.
VAS Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2024
Street Level Photoworks Open, Glasgow
VAS Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2023
SSA Exhibition, The Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr.
SSA Exhibition, Caledonian Club, London
2022
Street Level Photoworks Open, Glasgow
2020/21
Flow, VAS Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2019
Solo Exhibition : Exploring the Liminal, The Barony Arts Centre, West Kilbride
Land Marks, Transient Collective, Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh
30th Anniversary Open, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow
Alight, VAS Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Open, Meffan Gallery, Forfar
2018
Solo Exhibition: Exploring the Liminal, Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh
Borders, Bridewell Theatre Gallery, London
Current, Tatha Gallery, Newport-on-Tay
Abstracts, The Close Gallery, Edinburgh
SSA 121st Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Shutter Hub Open, Old Truman Brewery, London & 5&33 Gallery, Amsterdam
SSA & VAS Open, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Royal Photographic Society Scottish Travelling Exhibition
2017
Art Gemini Prize Finalist Exhibition, Asia House, London
Connection, &Gallery, Edinburgh
Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Glasgow
The Close Gallery, Edinburgh
Shutter Hub Open, Retina Festival, Edinburgh
2016
Art Gemini Prize Finalist Exhibition, Asia House, London
Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Glasgow
Bright, Leeds
Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Shutter Hub Cambridge Open, Cambridge
Der Greif “A Process 2”, Krakow Fotofest Festival, Krakow
Selected Digital Art Installations
2011
On Wrecker’s Ball / All Wrapped Up (Invited Artist), Drawing on Riverside, Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow
2007
Maxwell’s Equations (with PJ Moore), Edinburgh Science Festival, Edinburgh
3D VJ (with RM*), Designers Block Festival, London
Made of Light, Radiance Festival, Glasgow
2006
Made of Light, Earls Court, London
2005
Made of Light, SIA, Berne
2004
Made of Light, RIBA, London
Collections
- 2019
- Phil Lavery
- Portfolio
- 2025
- Phil Lavery
- Work With Paper
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