Phil Ashcroft

The commission of paintings for Twr y Felin Hotel focused on the specific locality of St David’s and its surrounding area.

Ramsey Sound was the first painting to be completed which, along with the Untitled (Sunset) paintings, was inspired by the sunset on Whitesands Beah and his visits to Abereiddi and Ramsey Sound. Turbines (Wear Point) and Refinery (Milford Haven) continued his series of works focusing on heavy industrial architecture sited within the natural landscape located only a short drive from St Davids. The Cave Painting (Ramsey) series of paintings developed in the artist’s studio following an inspiring boat trip around Ramsey Island to see the Atlantic Grey seals.

Combining influences from abstract expressionism, British landscape painting, Japanese woodcuts, and graphic street art, Ashcroft integrates varied styles to present a vision of environmental, financial and political threat, creating a world of semi-surreal settings, cartoon-like motifs and the detritus of the modernist ideals of the past.

Phil Ashcroft has had solo exhibitions in Edinburgh (2013), Hong Kong (2005) and London (2001). He was a finalist in the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2014).

Ashcroft also exhibits as ‘PhlAsh’ collaborating on live-painting projects in galleries and alternative spaces from street locations to shops. These have included No Soul for Sale, Tate Modern, London (2010); Cans 2 Festival, London (2008); Special Relationship, Scion Space, Los Angeles (2008), Elephant Technique, Village Underground (2006), All The People We Like Are Dead, London (2004), and Graffiti Meets Windows 1, Hank-Yu Department Store, Osaka (2002).