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Matinee: 'Phil Sharp -- Unified Theory'
17 February 2024
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 540th in our series of Saturday matinees today: Phil Sharp -- Unified Theory.
In this 1:42 video by Clint Trofa, British portrait photographer Phil Sharp talks about Unified Theory, his recent exhibit in Tottenham, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
Sharp has been included in the Taylor Wessing portrait prize three times and has been a winner in the Portrait of Britain award on several occasions. Well know in the casting industry, his client list includes Apple, Adidas, The New Yorker and the BBC.
For this exhibit, cleverly hung with large bulldog paper clamps, his portraits were printed larger than he usually sees them. "Most of the time, my work is seen on people's phones," he says. So seeing them as large prints provided a learning experience.
He took advantage of the opportunity to look for "connecting threads" that might weave his favorite images together to reveal a "unified theory" of his photography.
"Every so often you make an image and it just feels right," he says. You keep shooting until one just lands.
But his favorite image isn't a portrait. It's someone's back window. It takes a little time to appreciate it, he admits. But the image has stuck with him.
He's pleased with the thought his exhibition might inspire someone as he has been inspired seeing the work of others. He would always take some aspect of the work he admired to incorporate it some way into his own work.
It's how you grow as an artist, after all.