Exhibit Title: Double Take
Artist: Jeremy Phillips
Jeremy Phillips is an Asheville based artist and educator. He is a Religion and Humanities Instructor at Haywood Community College and UNC-Asheville and he paints out of his River Arts District studio in Pink Dog Creative.
On Exhibit: January 22 – February 24, 2023
Reception: Valentine’s Day (2/14/23) from 4 – 6pm
Location: Blowers Gallery in Ramsey Library
Jeremy Phillips’ Artist Statement: Why make paintings anymore? For me they are something solid in a digital world, images that linger long after the media circus has flown by, perpetual presences that invite you to slow down rather than flit off to the next piece of eye candy. A painting should be something you can live with and that keeps talking back.
When I think of painting in the internet age, the physical qualities of the work become central – the surface texture, the way the light plays off the paint, the accidents of application, the revelations of underlayers, the juxtaposition of thickness and color, the material of the support, even the underlying stretchers.
Content, beyond the play of form, is a relished addition. The interiors of rooms or apartment blocks, the visual games of optical illusions and impossible shapes, binary code, stacks; these are prompts for contemplation. Painting is also about a conversation with other art. Building on the work of artists like Sol Lewitt, Jasper Johns, Sigmar Polke, and older modernists like Edouard Vuillard, and Pierre Bonnard, I want to add my own voice to the questions modern art raises (like “What is a painting?”, “What is beautiful?” and “What kinds of things can be a subject for a painting?”, and “How can I used older images to make something new?”), and try to offer some of my own solutions.
I hope the results feed the eye as well as the mind, with a luscious use of oil paint, commercial fabrics, strong bright colors, and sharp lines. Sometimes deceptively simple and sometimes intriguingly complex, these visual puzzles intend to keep your eyes peeled.
