Martin Scorsese & Robert De Niro

Travis Bickle has a way of taking over the room.

Ken Harman, curator over at the fabulous Spoke Art Gallery, asked me a couple months back to make some work for the gallery's upcoming Martin Scorsese tribute show in New York.

Scorsese: an art tribute opens tonight at Bold Hype gallery in NYC, and runs through the weekend.


















For the show I made two pieces. First, a lifesize charcoal and graphite drawing of Robert De Niro from Taxi Driver.

Turns out De Niro has nice lats. 

The original will be accompanied by a limited edition run of 12x24in prints, available first at the show and then after via Spoke Art's website.

Stoked on how the deckled edges of the prints turned out. 

At the opening

Humbled to be in such illustrious company

75 artists contributed work resulting in a total over 150 pieces. Wish I could have seen it in person. 

The second piece was a bit smaller. I decided to try and tackle a portrait of Martin Scorsese himself, while attempting to avoid the standard sort of approach taken to images of him.

Charcoal & Graphite on paper,  19x24in 

Word on the street is that Scorsese may actually stop by the show! If you live in the vicinity of NY, the show will be a total blast and you should stop by and check it out. Details are here.

Thanks to Nicolas Guerin for the reference material.

**Addendum: Mr. Scorsese himself did indeed stop by the show. He also generously purchased my portrait of him. 

Everything isn't bigger in Texas. (But it's a damn cool state)

The fabulous guys over at the art blog Empty Kingdom flew me and three other artists out to Austin, Texas this past weekend to participate in their event ReCreate ATX as a part of the SXSW music festival.

The event was a blast, and involved working with artists from all over Texas to make art on an abandoned apt. building foundation overlooking downtown Austin.

(The view from the top of the hill at sunset on Sunday)

Hugh Leeman, Derek Gores, David Young and I spent all day Sat and Sun soaking in warm Texas rain and cooking in the blazing Texas sun getting our work up. We braved ants, bees, sunstroke, Texas shaped waffles and delinquent teenage Austinites day and night. 

(Panorama of the entire space. Empty Kingdom had the walls on the far right and left)

I brought down a 90% finished life-size charcoal and graphite drawing of a lovely lady I met in the Civid Center BART station in San Francisco. She calls herself Moon Baby.

(Text at top: "I was a backup singer for Joan Baez. My husband and I had a house in the lower Haight until he died - I couldn't afford it after that so now I live in my van down by the tracks. Nobody bothers me there.")

(Empty Kingdom's wall with (L to R) David Young, Derek Gores and me. Also included is an Australian woman flipping me off.)

Thanks to Empty Kingdom for sending me out to Texas for a kick-ass weekend. Ya'll should donate to their funding campaign for the event - they paid for the expenses out of their personal pockets and are dedicated to art like few people I've ever seen. 

Limited Edition Space Man O.T. Print

After being advised to consider making prints of some of my work by several artists I deeply respect, I finally got over my cold feet.

I am offering limited edition prints of my recent life-size charcoal piece, Space Man O.T. for $150.

There are only 10 prints left - reach out if you are interested in owning one. 

Details:

Limited edition run of 20

11x24in

Archival ink on Canson Etching Rag

Home

I recently was asked to participate in a group alumni show at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. For the show I created a triptych of charcoal portraits exploring the relationship between objects and the ownership of space. 

Jason on a Couch : Stop Motion from Joel Phillips on Vimeo.

A stop motion of the creation of "Jason on a Couch" from start to finish. 50 some hours in 30 seconds.

Robert in a Chair, Charcoal & Graphite on Paper, 56x(approx)100 inches

Henry with a Structure, Charcoal & Graphite on Paper, 56x80 inches

Jason on a Couch, Charcoal & Graphite on Paper, 56x87 inches

Statement:

I am intrigued with how objects are utilized to shape the physical and emotional form of the spaces we call our own.  Much of how we regard and respond to the space that we occupy is dependent upon what we place within it. My drawings are an attempt to explore how we utilize objects to make spaces truly ours. In particular, I have become fascinated by the juxtaposition of this concept with individuals who do not have spaces of their own. Much in the same way that the placement of my couch or lamp in my living room allows me to make my apartment a home, the measured and thoughtful placement of objects on the sidewalk or street stakes a claim. This body work seeks to draw attention to the simultaneous absurdity and adroitness of a homeless person marking and possessing a public space. By isolating my subject matter from context, I hope to explore the joyful irrationality of the situation, attempting to bring directly into focus the emotional and spatial interactions that allow these transitions from negative to positive space to occur.  

Sketching is the best

Sitting on my couch and sketching from a book of incredible portraits by photographer Robert Bergman.

While listening to Laura Marling on record.

So good.

Location:6th St,San Francisco,United States

Cigarette Painting Study

I've been collecting cigarette butts for a while now, with the idea of making paintings with them. Below is a study I recently finished to test the visual possibilities of the medium.




"2,375 x Adrian"
Approx 2,375 used cigarette butts & acrylic paint on wood panel.




Side view

A larger piece is in progress, stay tuned

Capital Cities Live Drawing.

Recently I was asked by the fabulous guys over at Empty Kingdom to do a live drawing session at a Capital Cities concert they were co sponsoring with Crossroads Entertainment.

The event was a blast, and I completed about half of the 4x3ft drawing during the course of the concert. The rest I finished the next week in my studio.

Thanks to Lucho Cisneros for the fabulous reference photo, shot at a Capitol Cities show in Lima, Peru.

The finished piece. Charcoal & graphite, paper mounted on wood panel. 

The set up, pre-show