Philip Michael Wolfson: Artist and Architect.
Part of Round Lemon’s Default Exhibition, Wolfson is a practitioner who creates both 2D and 3D work inspired by Constructivist and Futurist movements.
How would you describe yourself as a practitioner?
Architect & Artist is the basic description of myself. These days, Artist, if I have to say it in one word.
Perhaps, I feel that an architect is creating for someone else and for the creation of a lasting monument - while an artist creates for himself, and considers less whether or not it is a fleeting moment or an eternity. However, a sculptor is more on the lines of an architect in the creation of a work that is more concrete, harder, more substantial than a work on paper or canvas. ?? Perhaps.
As for the timeline of events leading to my referring to myself as an artist rather than an architect - I’m not architecting!
After studying you became the head of design with Zaha Hadid. What was this experience like for you?
Pretty incredible, as one rarely gets the opportunity to go right into being the head of an office immediately after graduating. In my case, Zaha had had her practice for one year, the 2 people in it left the summer i started, so it was Z, me, and one other also recent graduate. Then it wasn’t much of an ‘office’ as we worked out of her tiny South Kensington Mews house. However, after only a few months, Zaha won the international architectural competition that we’d worked on that summer, and everything exploded from then on.
What is your process for creating a piece? Does your background in architecture impact this?
Certainly! Although, as i mentioned, my architectural background was not necessarily what one would call architectural in the engineering/structural/nuts & bolts sort of way.
For me, i tend to work with conceptual ideas as the beginning of what usually becomes a series of works, spanning from something sculpturally 3_D or even to a degree, functional - to 2-D paintings. Proposals such as Origami, or DynamicLine or Twisted act as the impetus to a creation.
You have said that you re-examine the forms and ideas of the early 20th century Modernist movements, particularly Constructivism and Futurism. Why in particular are you drawn to these particular movements?
Perhaps it’s the way in which these movements dealt with concepts of movement that i find exciting and inspiring. Both of these early 20th Century movements dealt with more than just art - they were considered social experiments which crossed over from art to architecture, fashion, and even the way in which mankind performed his daily tasks IE: Konstantin Melnikov’s “Sonata of Sleep.”
As to the motion of a line, or the directional drift of forms, these were examined with a notion of speed that captures one’s eye.
Which artist do you think has had the biggest impact on you?
Rather all of the works within the Futurist and Constructivist Movements than one particular artist or work. For example, El Lissitzky and Melnikov both examined far more than art in their manifestoes. While Boccioni, Marinetti and Tato promoted mayhem and turbulence in the way in which their photography, music and art was presented.
What is one piece of advice you wish you had been given at the beginning of your art journey?
Document as much as possible right from the beginning! IF you can keep whatever you create safe, do it, otherwise photograph, film, or do whatever possible so that there is a record of your creations.
I regret not keeping my early student work, even my graduating project was tossed because I just felt I could do better. Of course we can always do better, but that’s not to say that what you’ve done at the beginning or early stages of your work isn’t important to your understanding of how you develop. And, of course, you never know who might want to be looking at your work in later years to analyze the development and changes you go through.
