I come from a family of creative people. My mother is an artist, a creator of Santa and Elf figures with elaborately sewn clothes and delightfully hand-sculpted faces and hands. My father is code-head and develops various control systems for museum installations (lots of folks don’t put engineers in the “creative” category, but I work with them everyday and know first hand that they’re just as creative, if not more than most artists). So, I guess it would make sense that they’re bare unto the world a pack of 5 creative brains, but I have a habit of forgetting the level to which my siblings shine. Thankfully, they remind me on a pretty regular basis. Be jealous.
Fred Glenn Phillips III
For this blog, however, I’m going to whore up my older brothers a bit (sorry Christie and Lisa, your insight and humanity far exceeds us Phillips’ males, but today we’re looking at visual art). The catalyst for this entry is the news of Glenn’s (or Fred) most recent show Untitled Titled Lagniappe Recycled. In this show, all the of the pieces are untitled and he’s requested all patrons to provide titles. So, by the end, all the pieces will in fact be multi-titled.
Here’s a sample. I’ve titled it Kama Luther Sutra Jr.:
So, go title some paintings! Cuz it’s fun!
Keith Hanford Phillips
My other brother, Keith, creates in various mediums as well, including clay, cloth and digital. I find his sewn art especially intriguing because I’ve never sewn a thing in my life and marvel at the compositions and palettes he creates with needle and thread. I also adore it because he’s made craft into art*. There is a prejudice common among “real artists” that keeps them from looking at art created by craft methods. In other words, lots of folks think you can’t make art from common materials. Well, fuck your couch, look at this:
Isn’t it fabulous? It’s not an elephant-shaped pillow, it’s not a pillow with an elephant on it. It’s a elephillow. He’s straddled representational art and abstract art and you nearly missed it! Plus look at that palette!
There. It’s been proven. Go home and tell the pseudo-Pollocks** to stop stroking themselves and look at some real art. To check out more of Keith’s stuff, check out his various web aliases:
- His Blog
- MudStuffing.com
His passion. - ThePhillipsDesignHouse.com
His business.
Closing Statement
My family is better than yours. I’m sorry. I’m not being cocky, I’m just lucky.
Footnotes
* For a further lesson in discriminating between craft and art, check out this commentary by Glenn.
** For clarification, I like the real Pollock’s work. I just detest art snobs.