Phillip Thomas, Kingston 1980, is one of the artists in group show:
INSIDES
CAMILLE CHEDDA
ONEIKA RUSSELL
Phillip Thomas
PRUDENCE LOVELL
New local Space, Kingston, Jamaica
March 28 – April 28
Double Self, 2014.
About:
Carpet.
Phillip Thomas was born in Kingston Jamaica in 1980, and received his Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in 2003 from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, where he was awarded the Albert Huie Prize for painting at the end of his studies. Thomas has participated in several group shows, including the “under-40 artist of the year” show, at which he received the Public Award, and the 2008 Jamaica National Biennale where he was given the Aaron Matalon award. He has also exhibited in the wider Caribbean. Thomas was granted two major educational scholarships (a Chase Fund grant and a grant from the Cobb Family Foundation) both towards a further degree in art. He has since graduated from the New York Academy of Art with an MFA in painting and is currently completing a fellowship received upon completion of his degree.
Camouflage, 2014.
In his oil paintings and mixed-media works, artist Philip Thomas combines the imagery and traditions of the Old Masters with contemporary textures and patterns to create a new iconography. As a starting point for these cross-cultural conversations, Thomas looks to the model of the French academies, plucking techniques (like oil painting on stretched canvas) and imagery (such as toreadors in elaborate costumes, silhouetted portraits, elaborately staged arrangements of figures) not only as formal elements, but also as relics of art history, offering a statement on colonialism and its aftermath, especially in his native Caribbean. “You want a way to lure people into the image, and then it unfolds itself, like a very slow car crash,” he says. “I try in many ways to present the audience to themselves.”
Courtesy: the artist.
Untitled, 2015.
NLS is pleased to present Insides an exhibition of new work by Camille Chedda, Oneika Russell, Phillip Thomas and Prudence Lovell. Insides is an exhibition of contemporary drawing by four exciting artists who engage this medium as a significant part of their art practice. Chedda, Russell, Thomas and Lovell present new approaches to an age-old medium, positing drawing as a valid means of contemporary expression. On view from March 28 to April 28.
Upper St. Andrew Concubine.
Opening party: Saturday, March 28, 6 – 9 p.m.
This event is free and open to the public.