An Afternoon With Cece
Afternoons at the Club by Cece Philips
Last month, I travelled to West London to visit figurative painter Cece Philips at her studio 💛 Here’s what you missed 🌻
Photography by Dami Ayo-Vaughan
Addy: Cece, thank you so much for joining me! What initially drew you to painting?
Cece: I started painting when I was quite young - my dad used to take me out around London with a little set of watercolours and we’d paint for hours - sometimes at museums in London or sometimes just along the river. I was very lucky to have that encouragement at such an early age. But I think I became really drawn to painting when I started using oils later on in school - I completely fell in love with the smoothness of the paint and richness of colour - and the sense that with oils, you can really recreate any surface or texture.
Addy: How has your background in history influenced your practice?
Cece: I think studying history gave me an appreciation for a couple of things. Firstly, for the power of storytelling - and a particular interest in which stories often aren’t told. And the second is for research. My favourite part of studying was being able to spend time at libraries and archives - and archival photographs and materials are something I look to for inspiration even now - using them as a jumping off point to create the figures I paint. I think there’s something really special about being able to look at an image, particularly of an anonymous person, and create or piece together a story for them yourself.
Addy: Your works explore identity and femininity, what do you hope to communicate?
Cece: I think I’m hoping to communicate my own exploration into what it means to exist as a woman. Putting an emphasis on things like attire, body language, even colours - I want the figures to represent an inner resilience through how they portray themselves to the outside world.
Addy: I love that! Describe your creative process.
Cece: I spend a lot of time looking over old pictures - for example early 20th century portrait photography - as well as contemporary ones and have a saved collection, which I draw inspiration from, combining and merging my own ideas. They come from everywhere - online, archives, even car boot sales. I find that old photographs in particular have a quality to them - containing individual stories which help you to imagine the lives of those who often remain anonymous. My first show, I See in Colour, at HOME by Ronan Mckenzie featured a body of work rooted in Black British history. I loved the process of researching often obscured narratives and creating several works drawn from real and inspirational Black figures, such as Evelyn Dove and Harold Wilmot. More recently, the figures I’ve painted are not real people but imagined women. I like the idea that they don’t necessarily sit in the past, but have a timeless quality to them.
Addy: Amazing. You’re a self-taught artist, how has your practice evolved over time?
Cece: After studying history at university, I spent a few months in Florence on an art course. The course was very traditional and definitely helped my practice in terms of technique. I’ve always loved painting people, and both before and during the course in Florence that would often be from life. What I’ve enjoyed recently is painting more from imagination - this change has also meant that my work has evolved stylistically. The colours I use now are a lot more fantastical and vivid, and the backdrops that the characters exist in aren’t easy to place - they exist in their own worlds.
Addy: Do you have a favourite piece of work that you’ve created?
Cece: Afternoons at the Club, Oil on Canvas, 2020. I don’t know why exactly - I just haven’t done a work since that I’ve been as connected to as that one.
Addy: That’s also one of my favourites! Who and what are your greatest influences?
Cece: There are so so many incredible artists that inspire me - both past and present. It’s hard to narrow down the list. One show which had a lasting impact on me was Toyin Ojih Odutola’s A Countervailing Theory at the Barbican. It encapsulated just how powerful narrative figurative artworks can be. I’d also have to say that stylistically I’m very inspired by Barkley Hendricks’ figurative paintings and also Romaine Brooks’ portraits (and life story).
Addy: What do you find the most challenging about creating art?
Cece: I think I can really get into my own head sometimes about what I think the work should be about or saying. And whenever I overthink I always tend to hit a bit of a block creatively. But, I’ve become much better recently at just trusting my instincts and leaning into what I most want to make. It always helps getting out of the studio when I’m having days like that - going to exhibitions, or even just spending time out and about in London. It’s hard to come away from a good show not feeling inspired to get back into the studio and make new work.
Addy: Totally. Your recent group exhibition At Peace examined portrayals of Black women by providing a space for healing. What does that mean to you?
Cece: I think At Peace was beautifully curated by Jade Foster in a way that the concept really permeated the process. Reflecting on what being at peace meant as a Black woman meant that before I even started the works, I was thinking so much more about the physical act of painting, the quiet moments in my day, and how peace could be brought into the paintings. ‘Sovereignty of Quiet’ by Kevin Quashie had a big influence on the work - the book often spoke about everyday ordinariness, which helps us get a sense of our interior selves. In the paintings that I did for the show I included lavender, which referenced my own experience of smelling and touching lavender every morning on my way to the studio. It was a moment I noticed, when making works for the show, that I felt very at peace.
Addy: I love that. Lastly, what’s next for you?
Cece: I’m really looking forward to the year ahead! I have a couple of group shows coming up this Spring - one in London and one in New York. And an exciting commission which will be showing in Tokyo later this summer.
Addy: Exciting! Okay, so at the end of interviews, I like to do something called a rapid fire round 🔥🔥 here we go! Romanticism or Fauvism?
Cece: Fauvism.
Addy: Portrait or still life?
Cece: Portrait.
Addy: Moving image or textile art?
Cece: Moving image.
Addy: Velvet or satin?
Cece: Velvet.
Addy: Summer or winter?
Cece: 100% summer. (we stan)
Addy: Sunrise or sunset?
Cece: Sunset, I’m rarely awake for sunrise!
Addy: Night out or night in?
Cece: Night in.
Addy: Lavender or jasmine?
Cece: Lavender.
Addy: Cats or dogs?
Cece: Dogs.
Addy: Hidden talent?
Cece: Double jointed fingers?
Addy: Last song you listened to?
Cece: Love Letters, Ketty Lester.
Addy: Great song. Thanks so much Cece!