Sam’s Cafe by Matt Phillips, 90x90cm, oil on canvas

HAVE you ever bought a crêpe from Veronica Philocles at the Hampstead Crêperie, or dropped in at Sam’s Café in Chalcot Road?

If you have, images at a new exhibition will be familiar. And despite their photographic accuracy, they are actually paintings, by a local Hampstead artist named Matt Phillips who has patented his unusual hi-res style.

It all came about by accident, says Matt. A compulsive painter from infancy, he trained at the Slade school of art and decided he wanted to work in film, but oil painting drew him irresistibly. And while living for a while in the American midwest he found himself increasingly mesmerised by the sights and sounds of that world.

He began doing paintings of dusty American desert landscapes: “My parents are both American, so I think it’s in my blood: I did lots of paintings of parades, and domestic architecture,” he explains. “If the buildings were derelict, I used to imagine the people who had lived in them. It made me feel sad – but in a good way. I enjoy an element of bleakness, and the beauty of the everyday.”

His paintings have a lot in common with those of the American painter Edward Hopper, and more than a touch of David Hockney.

But now Matt’s gaze is on Hampstead, where his pictures sell like hot cakes to local buyers.

He’s done paintings of pretty well all the local pubs – the Hollybush, the Flask, and the Spaniards Inn prominent among them – with the most recent focus being on popular eateries.

His painting of Sam’s Café – which has been long-listed in the art educators category of the Cass Art Prize – took him by surprise.

“I was just walking past, and it screamed ‘Paint me!’ There are times when that just happens.”

His painting of the Hampstead Crêperie was inspired by Veronica Philocles who sells from it. “She’s such a vibrant character, and I wanted to catch that quality by homing in on her,” he said. “It’s a picture of ordinariness, but she herself is very much not ordinary.”

• https://www.mattphillipsart.com/
• The Cass Art Prize 2024 exhibition runs from November 7-16 at Copeland Gallery, Peckham