During my vacation in Arizona last month, I took a day trip to Sedona and made a pit-stop in Jerome, a teeny-tiny town on top of a very big and very steep hill. The touristy town is the perfect mid-destination point among the rolling hills and winding mountains en route from Phoenix to Sedona and the Grand Canyon. There are many shops and restaurants to choose from, and the turquoise jewelry is abundant (and you know that's the real reason I wanted to stop there!) There are multiple art galleries which showcase more than just the local hobbyist's works - these places house LEGIT art of varying mediums.
I came across the abstract acrylic paintings of Dick Phillips at the Raku Gallery. (He's also featured at the Duely Jones gallery in Scotsdale.) I almost couldn't bear leaving without one, though they're all approx. 4 ft x 4 ft in size and range from $1,000-$3,000 in price. I seldom find art that portrays color in the way that I see it, or in inspirational compositions. To be honest, I'm bored by most fine art and am appealed to more graphic forms. This artist's explosions of color on canvas triggered a connection to the art that I don't usually attain. The vibrant expression and movement in Dick Phillips' work impressed me so much that I spent at least an hour of the remaining car ride to Sedona in an uncomfortably cramped backseat trying to pick up signals on my Blackberry so I could Google him. I managed to find the following bio. Oh, and dude is in his 70's. Even more impressive.
DICK PHILLIPS is a native of Breckenridge, Texas and a graduate of Texas A & M University. He has conducted numerous workshops thoughtout the United States, England and Mexico. Mr. Phillips has continually taught drawing and painting since 1972. Previous studies have been with such noted painters as Milford Zornes and Robert E. Wood. Mr. Phillips has had thirty-nine One Man Exibitions and has exhibited in over one hundred juried shows across the United States. He is listed in Who's Who in American Art.
Dick Phillips has taught watercolor classes in the Valley for many years, while exhibiting his acrylic abstract landscapes in galleries around the country. His most recent body of work are abstract floral paintings, in which he fuses his two different styles in an explosion of vivid color and fluidity.
Intermezzo
Anthem
Eureka
Occasionally
Utopia
Going for the Gold
Ocher
Finale
Sonorian Rhapsody
Django Reinhardt's Blue Note
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