But Philippe makes use of certain symbols which are recurrent in his oeuvre, that assist to unveil the encrypted message. Symbols like the dog, the bird and the white dot are repeated time and again in his paintings. Philippe has a strong motive for choosing these particular symbols as part of his artistic language: the word ‘Dog’ is ‘God’ when read backwards and the flight of a bird in French (his native tongue) ‘Vol’, is pronounced Love when read backwards. The most striking symbol he applies is the white dot. This is in fact a small circular piece on the canvas which has been carefully left untouched by the artist. It refers to the pure and untouched essence of life.
