Karen Phillips is an artist whose mixed media paintings express her fascination with color and texture and her desire to examine what lies below the surface of things. Phillips left behind the world of computer code and systems analysis and re-started her career with a degree in business, only to discover that she still wasn’t satisfied. Through a series of chance encounters, she discovered her love of painting.
Layering acrylic paint and other mediums, Phillips creates abstract worlds from her imagination. It is a conversation between her and the surface of the paper or canvas. Her work celebrates the daydreamer in all of us.
Phillips has shown work at the Buckhead Library, Atlanta Artists’ Center, Sycamore Place Gallery, Georgia State University Perimeter College, and 378 Gallery. Her work resides in private collections in Georgia.
Statement
I use genealogy research, family lore and stories to inform my Ancestors Project paintings. What did my ancestors dream about when they were children and how did their environment encourage or hinder their aspirations?
I can only imagine what these dreams were and it is through my paintings that I create abstract expressions of my ancestors and their dreams. I collage bits of paper and cloth I inherited from women on my mother’s side of the family to create texture. Intertwined with layers of paint are marks that speak of whispered hopes and dreams, travel to new places, and generations of families.
© Karen Phillips
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