Bob Phillips

Bob Phillips
Stratford, Ontario, Canada

STATEMENT

The inherent incongruence of imagery in collage impels viewers to forge personal meaning and uncover connections and I love that sort of dialogue. My digital collage interests were prompted by two events: the recent pandemic when our lives became insular and constricted, and teaching an introductory course in collage, at a local public art gallery. I wanted to demonstrate to students that digital collage works could be produced using the simplest of software; I use Apple’s Pages™ word processing app. I began with portraits because I’ve always gravitated to the human form as subject matter in my printmaking and drawing. Themes or narratives always emerge from the intermingling of images as each collage materializes. My titles are important as they tend to reinforce the incongruous nature of the medium; I’ll appropriate titles from various other art forms, films in particular. The presence of largely male figures indicates my identity and worldview as a queer man. Any formal or compositional solutions are really secondary to images colliding and difference dominating. Collage reinforces the haphazardness, absurdity, and complexity of lived lives, a state of being that is rarely dull and frequently irreverent. While the clash of chosen images is indicative of my singular imagination or intentions (not overlooking visual cultural influences), I remain confident that others will uncover aspects of themselves and their experience in what I make.

BIO

Bob Phillips’ over 40 years as a visual arts educator includes work with the Peel District School Board, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto, Sheridan College/UTMississauga, Nipissing University, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and Gallery Stratford. Bob is a lifetime member of the Ontario Art Education Association, served as its President (1991-95) and Honorary President (2003-07/09-12), and is a recipient of OAEA’s 2001 Ray Blackwell Excellence in Art Education Award. Bob earned a Master of Arts degree in aesthetic education (OISE/UT), has been published in various education journals, and has written chapters for two education anthologies, as well as Ministry of Education and gallery education curricula. Bob has presented illustrated talks to the Canadian Federation of University Women (Stratford), on the history of scenography, museum & art galleries, and contemporary art, and to the Stratford Poetry Group, about ekphrastic poetry. Over the past five years, Bob was Volunteers Co-ordinator, studio instructor (printmaking, collage, watercolour painting, experimental drawing & ceramics), exhibition installer, trustee, and board chair, all at Gallery Stratford. Bob maintains his artistry through printmaking, drawing, digital collage, and poetry writing. His prints, watercolors, and collages are owned by a number of private collectors; artworks in recent juried exhibitions include Visual Arts Mississauga, the Colour and Form Society, and Neilson Park Creative Centre, Toronto. Bob collects prints and contemporary ceramic teapots and resides in Stratford, Ontario with husband and textile artist, Joseph Hisey, and their cat, Bella.

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