Friday, July 29, 2011

2011 Featured Artist is Phil Parker

2011 Featured Artist - Phil Parker

The journey of the artist is one of unfolding and evolving, as it is with the work of Phil Parker.  His background in printmaking and emphasis on drawing led him down a career path that includes a wide variety of art-related subjects. Graphic design, photography, lutherie, typography, and digital illustration are among the disciplines that have contributed to his current work, which he describes as "objects of paper and wood". All are merged into fabricated assemblages that reference a variety of cultural and theological themes from myth-to religion-to science. Parker's assemblages sit upon an architecturally taut expression of action in the spirit of Joseph Cornell, noted for his visually poetic shadow box assemblages. The symbolism he constructs is a travelogue from the trek he has taken within. Parker's work is replete with Best of Show awards. He has exhibited widely, and his work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Florida House of Representatives; Norton Gallery of Art Palm Beach, Florida, Fort Lauderdale Art Museum, and The Museum of Florida Art. He has been awarded the Florida Visual Art Fellowship by the State of Florida.