Currently on view at Gow Langsford Auckland, ‘Windows’ brings new light to the work of the late Philip Clairmont (1949–1984), one of New Zealand’s most singular and expressive painters. Focusing on the recurring motif of the window, the exhibition traces how this image evolved across Clairmont’s brief but intense career, from early explorations of domestic interiors to luminous late works charged with emotion and reflection. To coincide with the show, we spoke with his son, artist Orlando Clairmont, about rediscovering these works, his father’s enduring fascination with the interior world, and the ways in which his legacy continues to resonate today.
Image (Right): Photo by Brenda Ramos
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This exhibition looks at how windows appear throughout your father’s work. What do you think drove your father’s intense focus on domestic objects and interior spaces?
From a young age he was often sick in bed “with a weak chest” (according to his mother Thelma). He was very bookish and read widely and became fascinated by “pictures in art books”. He clearly was quite observant from a young age and drew constantly. The first surviving piece of writing the Clairmont Estate has of his is a book he made in the first year of primary school, so around 5 years old. It’s called “All about Philip” and has (his first) self portrait on the cover. The only page of text we have is titled: “My Bedroom” – where he writes:
“I am standing in my bedroom. On the floor there is some carpet and some lino. By the bed there is a table. There are two beds. The quilts are green and red. There is a fireplace in the bedroom.”
It’s fascinating that he mentions a fireplace and a table (two big themes later on) and also the specific colours of the quilts and even lino on the floor – which years later he would carve into majestic prints. He also became quite fascinated with Goya and his etchings of bullfights and some early intermediate school works are copies of these Goya bullfights. So the human figure was an early preoccupation too. Weirdly, he doesn’t mention if the room has a window?
His Art school Thesis “An Exercise in Perception” (1970) was also completely based around the interior of a single living room in Christchurch. Many of his domestic and interior themes are already apparent in the related thesis works. Windows also make an appearance in the background but the focus is mainly on the objects in the room. In a 1978 interview he said: “I think an object has a life of its own. It has an essence. And it’s that essence that I’m trying to express”.
Part of the interior focus may have been practical. He had a baby daughter while finishing art school and so had to be home, part-parenting while painting. I think it really enabled him to focus on objects “without having to confront people”. He could get to know things, deeply, from many angles. I think the Interior was also a strong metaphor for the inner realms of emotion, the mind and imagination. While much NZ art is about looking at the landscape around us – he seemed more interested in the mindscapes within us.
Image: Philip Clairmont, Large Window Painting, 1981-82 oil and acrylic on canvas, 1900 x 1820mm
Some of these works have never been shown before. What is it like seeing them all together for the first time?
Quite a thrill to be honest. I’ve spent much time looking at photos of them on screens, but nothing beats seeing them together on a wall, talking to each other (and the audience). Even now when I see the show I notice new connections between the works or how some seem to demand my immediate attention while others sit back quietly waiting for the right moment. The other thing with seeing them in person is that texture was such an important part of the painting process for Clairmont. You can really see the different effect different materials have, how the hessian functions versus canvas and even the small elements of collage and mixed media which are hard to pick up in photos, particularly the brief flashes of gold paint or the delicacy of the pencil, ink and watercolours.
Image: Philip Clairmont, Fireplace, 1970 oil on hessian on board, 1012 x 710mm
What’s something people might be surprised to learn about Philip Clairmont or his process?
I know from my own experience studying “Expressionism” (briefly) at secondary school, much focus is made on the immediacy and emotion of the act of creation. Sometimes as if these things were thrown together without thinking.
Particularly after looking at Clairmont’s amazingly detailed notebooks – I think people would be surprised to learn just how much thought, planning, experimentation, preparatory sketches and studies were involved in mapping out each painting.
While they might (hopefully) look effortless and intuitive, they were also quite thoroughly mapped out beforehand.
Image: Philip Clairmont, Through the Doorway, 1977, black biro and wash on paper, 600 x 420mm, 815 x 625mm framed
As both Philip Clairmont’s son and an artist yourself, how does it feel to see his work being revisited in this way? Has it influenced how you think about your own art?
I’m still amazed by his work just from a purely technical level. Some of the work is so layered and complex I have no idea how he actually did it. My own work in comparison is very simple and decorative (but fairly flat and basic compared to Clairmont) and often done for commercial clients on glass windows, hence the name Paint On Glass. I have looked more to his print-making practice possibly and his occasional use of stencils, etc for inspiration. I have incorporated this in my heavy use of hand-made stamps, which means I can cover large areas quickly, with repeating patterns. It is quite ironic that we both ended up with “windows” being a major theme!
How do you think Philip Clairmont’s work connects with audiences today?
Great question. I don’t think passion is ever out of fashion. And anyone who looks at the work will immediately recognise the “passionate intensity”. Hopefully it inspires people and in particular young people to feel like they can express themselves, experiment, create colourful worlds and channel powerful emotions and messages into art. Clairmont truly believed in the accessibility of art, that it was a grounded, humble but important occupation and a key way for bypassing increasingly corporate and privatised agendas. I think he would have been amazed and impressed by the recent flowering of “street art” and the scale and complexity of some young artists today working on walls outside the gallery system. Hopefully some of these artists themselves might get inspired by his work and the feedback loop of culture continues to create exciting, meaningful imagery.
Image: Philip Clairmont, Study for Window, Still Life, 1982, pencil, pastel, acrylic, oil on board 720 x 560mm, 860 x 700mm framed
Have you discovered anything new about his work or artistic intentions while undertaking your research?
Too much to mention! There’s still much to be discovered. I will be giving a talk at Gow Langsford Gallery at 2pm on the 18th of October – where I will go into more detail about specific works.
With the focus currently on the Windows exhibition, I think it’s a great metaphor for taking a peek through the window, into the artist’s studio: into his practice and work. It’s really just an introduction (or re-introduction) to his prolific output and oeuvre but the late window works were hardly ever exhibited and rarely seen or mentioned so it shows another side of him; opening out to the wider world and life outside the claustrophobic mirrored interior.
I was also very interested in discovering how he was starting to combine his print-making and painting practices, planning a range of hand-coloured woodcuts (one is in the window at Gow Langsford) where each one is totally unique but based on the same printed ink foundation. Similarly in some of the last paintings he was actually printing his linocuts onto fabric and collaging them into the painting itself. I’m not sure of any other artists really combining techniques in such a way but I think he was very excited to keep experimenting in those directions and only wish he had lived longer to see those ideas manifest more of their magic.