Last name

Phillips "Parhelion"

Profile picture

Biography

I was born on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and was schooled on Barbados and Jamaica, and in Toronto; I have worked as a corporate lawyer in the British Virgin Islands and as a biosafety adviser with the United Nations Environment Programme. I divide my time between Barbados and Toronto. Since August 2007 c.e. I have been also exploring a hitherto unsuspected calling that I believe to be my true talent—action painting, under the nom de guerre “Parhelion.”

In my art, the act of creation itself is highlighted as the ultimate message; the method of communication is part of what is communicated. Life is vibrant, riotous energy in constant motion (my Caribbean background reminds me of this constantly!) and the play of raw colours in my work expresses this—a spontaneous demonstration that creativity is the very antithesis of despair. Each piece is an unrepeatable entelechial event expressing the essence of an idea, a concept, a notion, a feeling.

I aim not to capture the idea and mount it like a butterfly with spikes through its wings; rather, the point of bringing a given work to manifestation is to assist the underlying notion to fly free by giving it extra dimensions in which to move and have its being. “What might have been” becomes “what is and must be/has always been/always was.”

There is direct communication of the symbolism to the viewer, bypassing pre-conceived notions and striking to the heart of the relationship between the observer and the observed. Influences include Jackson Pollock, Wassily Kandinsky, Sam Francis... and, always, Aurora. Always, because these works are truly labours of love, each piece a fractal of my hunger to re-unite with my muse.

E-mail address

parhelion1@gmail.com

Country

Barbados