Phillip Thomas approaches his work as a “meta-archeologist.” His paintings are reliquaries gleaned from the monuments of Western art history. This proposes an injection of another world into the work’s original narrative. This world is of a different time and place, conjured out of Thomas’ careful attention to the Caribbean climate of his birth and the multifaceted contemporary culture he now exists in. It is derived from his polygamous cultural identity as a young man raised in a place still steeped in aspects of colonialism. The notion of “master-piece” becomes a metaphor for his re-appropriation of the Canon and the role of blacks in its imagery. He takes control of the balance of power through radical re-interpretations of the gems of European painting – Turner, Ribera, et al. the heroic is thus made intimate and made dense with beauty and a cultural tapestry.
“The idea of studying at a “French Academy” in the United States is entrenched in cross-cultural pollination. I intend to manufacture cultural reliquaries, artifacts and social curiosities that represent the cultural tapestry of the Caribbean and the wider “new world,” using mediums and other agents of the old world.”
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Phillip Thomas graduated from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in 2001 with a Certificate in Painting and in 2003 with a Diploma in Painting with Honours. He participated in the Biennial at the National Gallery 2004, and has participated in a two-man exhibition at Bolivar Gallery, 2006. He received an Albert Huie Award for Painting in 2003 and the Purchase Award from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, 2003.
Phillip Mark Anthony Thomas was born in Kingston Jamaica on February 20, 1980. He received his BFA in 2003 at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. At this institution he received the Albert Huie Award for Painting at the end of his four-year study. He subsequently received an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. He received two educational scholarships in support of his MFA: a CHASE fund grant and a grant from the Cobb Family Foundation. Phillip is currently completing a postgraduate Fellowship.
Phillip Thomas has been involved in several group shows such as the Super Plus Under 40 Artist of the Year exhibition and competition, where he received the Public’s award, and the 2008 Jamaica National Biennial, at the NGJ, where he was awarded the Aaron Matalon award.
Phillip Thomas manufactures cultural reliquaries, consisting of artifacts and social curiosities that represent the cultural tapestry of the Caribbean and the wider “New World”, using media and other agents of the Old World. The “old master” painting style and the large, conventional painting formats are not used for the sake of the representation per se but as artifacts of art history. Hence the entire object produced (consisting of stretcher bars, frames, oil paints, Phillip Thomas and all the other elements and media that make up such objects) is a manifestation of an archeological response to agents of the Old World as well as products of the new. This allows for a kind of meta-discourse between the originals and derivatives of Western art history which speaks to the nature of colonialism and its aftermath. Even my decision to study at the New York Academy of Art, a traditionalist “French Academy” in the United States, is rooted in my interest in cross-cultural pollination. My work is concerned with specific Old World cultures that are relevant to the Caribbean, predominantly the English, the French and the Spanish. Each of these cultures is reflected in the body of works presented. “Master Copies” of Turner, Ribera and sections of Velazquez’ paintings are fused into the discourse of my paintings, not as mere hints of artistic influence but also as cultural relics.
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“The idea of studying at a “French Academy” in the United States is entrenched in cross-cultural pollination. I intend to manufacture cultural reliquaries, artifacts and social curiosities that represent the cultural tapestry of the Caribbean and the wider “new world,” using mediums and other agents of the old world.”
quote
Phillip Thomas graduated from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in 2001 with a Certificate in Painting and in 2003 with a Diploma in Painting with Honours. He participated in the Biennial at the National Gallery 2004, and has participated in a two-man exhibition at Bolivar Gallery, 2006. He received an Albert Huie Award for Painting in 2003 and the Purchase Award from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, 2003.
Phillip Mark Anthony Thomas was born in Kingston Jamaica on February 20, 1980. He received his BFA in 2003 at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. At this institution he received the Albert Huie Award for Painting at the end of his four-year study. He subsequently received an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. He received two educational scholarships in support of his MFA: a CHASE fund grant and a grant from the Cobb Family Foundation. Phillip is currently completing a postgraduate Fellowship.
Phillip Thomas has been involved in several group shows such as the Super Plus Under 40 Artist of the Year exhibition and competition, where he received the Public’s award, and the 2008 Jamaica National Biennial, at the NGJ, where he was awarded the Aaron Matalon award.
Phillip Thomas manufactures cultural reliquaries, consisting of artifacts and social curiosities that represent the cultural tapestry of the Caribbean and the wider “New World”, using media and other agents of the Old World. The “old master” painting style and the large, conventional painting formats are not used for the sake of the representation per se but as artifacts of art history. Hence the entire object produced (consisting of stretcher bars, frames, oil paints, Phillip Thomas and all the other elements and media that make up such objects) is a manifestation of an archeological response to agents of the Old World as well as products of the new. This allows for a kind of meta-discourse between the originals and derivatives of Western art history which speaks to the nature of colonialism and its aftermath. Even my decision to study at the New York Academy of Art, a traditionalist “French Academy” in the United States, is rooted in my interest in cross-cultural pollination. My work is concerned with specific Old World cultures that are relevant to the Caribbean, predominantly the English, the French and the Spanish. Each of these cultures is reflected in the body of works presented. “Master Copies” of Turner, Ribera and sections of Velazquez’ paintings are fused into the discourse of my paintings, not as mere hints of artistic influence but also as cultural relics.
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