Phillis Ideal: Recent Paintings

exhibition dates: April 13 - May 8, 2010

reception: Thursday, April 15, 6 - 8 pm

Phillis Ideal’s work is about the materiality of paint which represents a wide range of abstraction: including layers of transparent and thick, brushed and sprayed paint; collaged fragments embedded in medium; computer graphics, shards of other drawings, as well as, large gestural brush strokes. Thus, the scope is broad and the paintings exist as both a tangible material and as a catalog of visual language of different styles of image making. Some paintings are more complex in combining collaged references than others which are more reductive and elemental.

The studio practice underscores a playful and imaginative setting in which many moods, pictorial spaces, techniques and art history can coexist, referencing the vastness of the operations of abstraction. These paintings are moments in an open process which experiments with both formal relationships and chance elements to create meaning.  In this work, she is interested in testing the system of making art within the mind of the artist and the viewer. These paintings are open to visual perception and stand on their own to engage an emotional and intellectual response.    

Phillis Ideal has exhibited in major museums and galleries in San Francisco, Santa Fe and New York City. Her work has been shown and collected in many private, corporate and public collections such as MH de Young Museum, Oakland Museum of Fine Arts, Newport Harbor Art Museum and Fine Arts Museum of Santa Fe. She had a long relationship with Rosenberg and Kaufman Fine Arts in New York City, as well as Linda Durham Contemporary Art Gallery in Santa Fe and is currently represented by Chiaroscuro In Santa Fe. Her academic experience includes teaching at San Francisco State, UC Berkeley and Sarah Lawrence.