Who’s hue: Richard Phillips’ digital interpretations of Cy Twombly’s last paintings
It was seeing old photographs of fascist-era Roman statues commissioned by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in the early 1930s with the hope that Rome would host the 1944 Summer Olympics (London ended up winning the bid, but the games were cancelled due to World War II) and the 1942 World’s Fair – which was also cancelled – that caused artist Richard Phillips to pay a visit to Palazzo della Civiltà and Foro Italico when he was in Rome a few years ago. The artist took photos of the statues with his iPhone for his own reference. 'I realised that there was great potential, and the power of these really decidedly anti-modernist sculptures was an appropriate subject for painting at this moment in time,' said Phillips.
Phillips removed the backgrounds of the images, set the tone in a certain contrast and applied a new method of painting which he had been working on, a departure from the hyperrealist portraits he had become known for. The paintings, along with another series that used Cy Twombly’s last paintings as a starting point, are the subject of a recently opened exhibition at Almine Rech Gallery in Brussels.
The artist's new process involves a number of meticulous steps where a digital image is printed on to an adhesive vinyl paper that forms a sticker that gets stuck on the canvas. Then, with a scalpel the vinyl surface is cut. Using shades from a gradient colour study that he created, Phillips then paints another layer, removing the vinyl strips to reveal the unpainted gessoed canvas. Phillips basically works in cycles to removes and apply tape, and additional layers of colour. The result is a work that tricks the viewer into thinking that a print has been applied to the canvas, when it was actually painted by hand.
Phillips used detail shots from catalogues as the starting point for his Cy Twombly series. 'The catalogues for abstract painting, and Cy in particular, they’ll do full page bleeds of a portion of the painting that shows the master stroke in order to get you closer to how the paintings really are in scale,' said Phillips, who reconstructed the elements from Twombly’s Roman Salalah and Final paintings onto raw gessoed canvases using a similar method as his other paintings. 'They’re kind of a memento mori of that final example of masterful expressionist painting in a sense,' said Phillips.
INFORMATION
'Richard Phillips' is on view until 25 Feburary 2017. For more information, visit the Almine Rech Gallery website
ADDRESS
Almine Rech Gallery
Abdijstraat 20
Rue de l’Abbaye
1050 Brussels
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Ann Binlot is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer who covers art, fashion, design, architecture, food, and travel for publications like Wallpaper*, the Wall Street Journal, and Monocle. She is also editor-at-large at Document Journal and Family Style magazines.
-
The visual feast of the Sony World Photography Awards 2024 is revealed
The Sony World Photography Awards 2024 winners have been revealed – we celebrate the Architecture & Design category’s visual artists
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Don’t Move, Improve 2024: London’s bold, bright and boutique home renovations
Don’t Move, Improve 2024 reveals its shortlist, with 16 home designs competing for the top spot, to be announced in May
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Perfumer H has bottled the scent of dandelions blowing in the wind
Perfumer H has debuted a new fragrance for spring, called Dandelion. Lyn Harris tells Wallpaper* about the process of its creation
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
Guglielmo Castelli considers fragility and violence with painting series in Venice
Guglielmo Castelli’s exhibition ‘Improving Songs for Anxious Children’ at Palazzetto Tito, Venice, explores childhood as the genesis of discovery
By Sofia Hallström Published
-
‘Accordion Fields’ at Lisson Gallery unites painters inspired by London
‘Accordian Fields’ at Lisson Gallery is a group show looking at painting linked to London
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
The best London art exhibitions to see now
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Hannah Silver Published
-
All eyes on Christina Quarles, the painter inventing a new figurative language
Los Angeles-based artist Christina Quarles is in her element, with two major solo shows underway at Hamburger Bahnhof and Hauser & Wirth Menorca
By Emily McDermott Published
-
Portraits of dogs: new Wallace Collection show is pooch perfect
‘Portraits of Dogs from Gainsborough to Hockney’ at the Wallace Collection (until 15 October) offers paws for thought on the human devotion to dogs throughout the centuries
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Gavin Turk: ‘My art is always other people's art’
We interview British artist Gavin Turk, whose show ‘Kerze’ (candle) at Ben Brown Fine Arts is an ode to Gerhard Richter’s candle painting, with an uncanny twist
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
An art history of Château Mouton Rothschild wine labels, from Lucian Freud and Niki de Saint Phalle to Peter Doig
We take a closer look at Château Mouton Rothschild’s 2020 vintage label designed by artist Peter Doig and look back on the house’s fruitful history of artist collaborations
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Last updated
-
Faith Ringgold on capturing the complexity of the American experience: ‘It takes courage to be free’
We interview Faith Ringgold, whose major retrospective exhibition ‘American People’ runs until 27 November at the de Young Musuem, San Francisco
By Aindrea Emelife Published