Today we’d like to introduce you to Alfred Phillips.
Hi Alfred, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in the rural farm area outside of Louisville, Kentucky, where being an artist was not considered a “manly” profession. Never the less, with the determination of school teachers and neighbors, I received grudging support from my parents and won a full scholarship to the Art Center School in Louisville, and graduated in 1969. I began a career in advertising art and met and married my wife. We had 18 years together and two sons. We divorced in 1986 when I came out of the closet, but we are friends to this day and still love each other. I then met my partner and we have been together 32 years, five of them legally married.
During my career in advertising, I created work for clients such as Coors Beer, Mercedes Benz, Brown Forman Distillers, Cummins Engine, and International Harvester. I rose from a lowly artist to art director and then became a manager. Eventually, that became restrictive and I chose to go out on my own where I started my own firm, which I kept until I retired in 2003, mostly working with healthcare companies. Since then, I have been able to pursue my love of acrylic painting and have developed a fine second career selling paintings to collectors in many of the states and also internationally. In 2003, I settled in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and then moved to Gainesville, FL, in 2013, where I reside and paint today. Over the years, I have lost a son to cancer at age 38, and that was probably the lowest point in my life. But, since then, my other son has given me a grandson and he is everything to me and my husband. made more precious knowing how fragile life can be. I continue to paint almost every day and realize keeping a schedule of painting, no matter what will keep the juices flowing. I also volunteer for Gainesville Fine Arts Association as a gallery sitter when called upon, and in the past, was on the Board of Directors as well as Gallery Director for five years.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Probably the biggest change in my life came at age 36 when I decided to admit to myself that I am gay. But, I think it was the best thing I could have done for me and my family. It was a struggle but I didn’t really lose any family or friends, although several family members are not comfortable with homosexuality. However, everyone loves my partner, Rick! Then, after that struggle and managing to have some semblance of a new life, I lost my son, Cory, to cancer when he was 38. That took a big chunk out of me. To this day, 15 years later, I can’t think about him without getting emotional. Losing a child is not something a parent should have to live through. In 2004, I was involved in a controversy that landed me on the very funny and topical Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and the resulting publicity caused me to have death threats and many scary days and nights.
I created an unflattering cartoon of George Bush and entered it in the Controversy Exhibit at Broward Art Guild in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where it was accepted and exhibited, but the Gallery Director received a questioning call from a local commissioner due to someone being offended. The cartoon was removed and placed in a corner with a warning that the piece was too controversial to show on the main walls. Somehow the media got wind of that and all hell broke loose with many people calling it censorship, including the Sun-Sentinal newspaper in Fort Lauderdale, especially after the Gallery Director was fired. It blew up to international attention even appearing in newspapers in London, England, and Rush Limbaugh even had a tirade over the cartoon. I was mortified. Finally, after weeks of the issue being bounced around the town, and many, many, new visitors to the gallery, things calmed down and I was able to get back to my normal work and routine. It taught me that I DO NOT want to be a celebrity.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My field of choice in the arts is acrylic painting. I lean towards realism but often stray into abstracts and even combine the two at times. I often hear people say my work is exciting and they like the colors, the subjects I choose, and the variety. Even though I paint anything from figurative work to landscapes, my collectors swear they can pick out my work from any group. I also am gratified that a lot of young people appreciate my work, and for an oldster like me, that means a lot.
I am proud that I have won many awards for my paintings and that I have work hanging in homes in China, all over Europe, Canada, and Mexico. When I paint, I paint from life, studio models, or I use reference photos I have taken or friends have lent me, and I use a grid system over the photo and transfer that to my canvas. I never directly trace because I am fortunate to be able to draw well. All I need is that grid to keep me on track. I start with a brushed on sketch or charcoal stick depending on the subject. At the moment I am getting back into my love of urban grit style paintings.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I believe, as a very poor rural farm boy with undereducated parents, I was lucky to receive a full scholarship to art school which gave me a chance to study advertising art. My ability to draw well kept me sketching ads for ad campaigns and developing my ability to draw anything. In the beginning, though, I give my grandfather credit for noticing my drawing ability as a young child. I always liked to be near the adults in a room and I would lay around and sketch on the floor, listening to their conversations, and I would copy cartoons from the funny pages in the newspaper. My grandfather saw what I was doing one day and exclaimed, “My word, look what this child has drawn!” I never forgot it because I thought I had done something bad. Then everyone crowded around and oohed and aahed and I was known as “the artist” from that day forward. Fortunately, I had school teachers who also recognized my abilities and helped me along the way to my life as first an advertising artist, and then a fine artist.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.alfredphillips.com
Image Credits
Richard Moore, photographer
