An award-winning tattoo artist is launching an exhibition that utilises geometric structures to bring order to the chaos of life and the mind in an Aldgate East gallery.
Quantus Gallery will adorn its walls in artist Mike Philp’s multimedia, achromatic work in his new exhibition ‘Introspective’ on 14 December.
Mike, who is also an award-winning tattoo artist, combines perfect straight lines and patterns he knows we “as humans just love”, explaining how the “orderly chaos” of this work is a projection of his own life.
The artist said: “My life is very ordered, I’ve got loads of structures, but it’s chaotic.”
Where he sees skin as the “canvas” for his tattoo art, he creates most of his art on wood because it has “its own texture, tone and age” making it a “translation” from person to nature.
Discussing the inspiration of his exhibition ‘Introspective’, Mike explained how at a young age he stopped talking for a long period of time, coining the name ‘silent Mike’, as he would only speak the bare minimum he needed to communicate with people.
Mike added: “My dad ended up leaving me, my mom and my little sister.
“We were left with no money, no home, no nothing, and ended up going straight into council estates in the roughest parts of Birmingham.
“I think if you’re born into a lot of wealth, you already start at a level where you’re easily knocked down.
“But if you start at the bottom, the only way is to go up.
“I’m so thankful for that, I had such a great, loving mother who stood by us the whole way.”
Reflecting on that period he described as being “so within [him]self”, he explained it enabled him to introspect and develop a strong sense of empathy for people.
He therefore describes his work as a way of communicating to people like “a second language”.
This is hugely important for his work as a tattoo artist, which requires establishing a deep level of trust with customers, as people are vulnerable when getting a tattoo.
Mike explained: “Most people don’t really know what they want.
“They know they want something, but it’s about discovering who they are inside to create something to represent their personality.
“It’s artwork for their bodies to show who they truly are.
“So it’s like you’re giving them a level up on their true inner self, because a lot of people can’t really explain what they love when it comes to art, but there’s often deeper meanings behind it.”
His artwork also explores three dimensional structures and reflecting light to make it even more mentally simulating as he hopes to “change the way people look at things”.
With his new exhibition, he hopes his work will welcome people to be part of his journey as he continues to create new forms and structures people won’t have seen before.
All images credited to Quantus Gallery
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