Rachel Phillips
Scrambled
October 27 – December 3, 2022
Opening Reception Thursday October 27, 6-8pm
Installation Views
Microscope is very pleased to present “Scrambled,” the second solo exhibition of works by Rachel Phillips at the gallery. Among the inspirations for the new paintings, sculptures, and drawings on view are the experience of lockdown — the feeling of looking at the world through a keyhole and existing in confined spaces — as well as the catastrophic natural and socio-political events that have taken place during that time.
“My paintings are composed of animated objects and cartoon-like characters with “attitude.” The characters and expressions play off each other in a humorous yet disconcerting manner.” — RP
In Phillips’ works, the canvas — and at times the clay or paper surface — may be loosely seen as a layered setting of a play or a cartoon with a cast of characters whose activities gradually become discernible to the viewer. Cartoonish entities emerge from abstract forms, often extending from brightly colored foregrounds, backgrounds, and in-between spaces. Phillips’ works are also depictions of moods, conveyed through the characters’ facial and physical expressions, as well as through unexpected color palettes.
Ambiguity is a key element of Phillips’ paintings: not everything is what it seems. Rectangles, triangles, circles and other distinct and overlapping shapes are revealed upon further observation to be teeth, beaks, pupils, and other features. While other overtly recognizable characteristics seem to drift in and out of definition, creating a continuous tension between representation and pure color.
“Distressed eyeballs and goofy smiles exist within flat fields of color that function as theatrical spaces and moody backdrops.” — RP
In her paintings, Phillips uses a variety of techniques and approaches — from paint drippings to dense textures of brushstrokes and from chiaroscuro to gradient-like layouts of paint — often juxtaposed as if to comment on the inescapability of technique or to ask why an artist would embrace technique at all. In two of the paintings, an object made of acrylic paint resembling a small paint can is positioned atop of the painting’s frame as if about to spill its contents onto the canvas below.
Phillips’ sculptures, which are made with glazed or painted clay and found objects, are suggestive of forts or fortified dwellings that have been abandoned and left to decay. In one sits a solitary bird. There also seems to be a language of symbols traced by the artist through recurring elements such as skulls with marbles or hard candy for eyes, or small weights and stones hung by short strings from the upper sections of the sculptures. In these works, which Phillips describes as dystopian fairytales, candy references abound: do humanity’s wars equate to children’s games?
Vivid, square-shaped, ink and gel pen drawings on paper, complement and illuminate the other works on view. Although foundational to all her works, Phillips’ spontaneity and automatic process is most evident in these thin-line drawings, with their self-assured marks, as in doodling, devoid of inhibitions and leading to fresh associations and unforeseen propositions.
“Rachel Phillips: Scrambled” opens Thursday October 27th and continues through Saturday December 3rd. Opening Reception: Thursday October 27th, 6-8pm.
For further information please contact the gallery at info@microscopegallery.com or by phone at 347.925.1433.
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Rachel Phillips (b. Philadelphia, PA) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been exhibited in the US and internationally including at Cindy Rucker Gallery, Walter Wickiser Gallery, Brian Morris Gallery, Bruce High Quality Foundation, Galerie Protégé, Nurture Art, Chashama, and O’Flaherty’s in New York as well as at the Gran Sasso Science Institute in L’Aquila, Italy, and Salon Space, Berlin, Germany, among many others. Phillips’ work has been featured in Artnet, ArtMaze, Bedford & Bowery, Hyperallergic, Two Coats of Paint, and Talking Pictures Blog, among others. She was recently interviewed in “Decorated Youth Magazine.” Recent residencies include “The Stephen Pace Residency for a Mid-Career Artist” at Provincetown MA in 2020 (realized in January/February of 2022) and the Salem Art Works Residency Fellowship, Salem, NY in 2019. She was one of three artists and curators of the critically recognized Bushwick gallery The Parlour (2011- 2017). Rachel Phillips lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
