2010:  Editorial in "Art News " Magazine, September 2010

The beginning of the golden weather?
Painter Philip Kilmore strives to kick-start a new sense of optimism with new works as winter draws to a close.

   Philip Kilmore's upcoming exhibition Pick of the Bunch, at Auckland's Remuera Gallery, was to have been the third in a series exploring the notion that the future is the past and that all life is cyclical.
   However, Kilmore decided against this: “I just didn’t feel the time was right, " he says. "With the recession, the last couple of years have been pretty tough for everyone, and I really wanted to lighten things up a little. So rather than looking at the big picture, these works are all about colour, vibrancy and the joyousness of spring.”
   The exhibition celebrates the end of both winter and the recession, and reflects on the hope and positivity that spring engenders. Each work captures the precise detail of household items in an almost intimate setting - the extreme close-up, cropped composition and abstract quality gives the subjects an intensity and 'presence', heightened by the use of strong colour.
   “I see these intimate portrayals of inanimate objects as having a warmth and life of their own - they become animate, and their everyday familiarity gives them their own character.” The paintings are beautifully crafted realist works: “I take great care in constructing my pieces, always being aware of the two-dimensional nature of the canvas. While the finished work is very realist, the genesis is quite abstract.”
   The subject of his still-life paintings - antique bottles, preserving jars and china, coupled with old-fashioned flowers, creates a feeling of nostalgia and reminiscence. In our fast-paced, throw-away society these compellingly beautiful works take you back to a simpler and less-structured time - a little oasis of peace and tranquillity in the mayhem of modern life.
   Pick of the Bunch opens at Remuera Gallery, Auckland, at 3pm on Saturday 16 October and runs until 5 November. For more information contact Remuera Gallery, phone 09 524 740 or visit www.philipkilmore.co.nz