Richard Phillips

Richard Phillips was born in 1962 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and currently lives and works in New York. He is an artist known for his unmistakable painting style, which he employs to create large-scale canvases that portray figures from contemporary culture, including actors, famous models, and fashion icons, with absolute simplicity and truth. His works oscillate between aesthetic perfection and transgression, critically examining the contemporary world.

The close-up portraits recall the painting style of glossy magazine covers from the 1950s and 1960s. Phillips' art can be seen as a vivid projection of pop art, but it updates the relationship with typical reference materials, such as mass media and industrial production, to capture the emotional depth of contemporary status. He creates his works using oil paints on linen, preceded by meticulous preparatory drawings. The tension between the intense craftsmanship of his work and the psychology that emerges from the apparent banality of the subjects generates the strength of these images.

As noted, “The figurative language of Richard Phillips's paintings is peculiar, flashy, brilliant, and seemingly generous. Often, the subject appears to revel in their sensuality… but there is also coldness, a sort of pictorial ferocity and emotional disorder.” One notable piece in the Iannaccone collection is the portrait of Valentino Garavani, an icon of haute couture. Phillips captures the close-up of Garavani’s face not merely as a celebration of the character but to probe the soul of the man. His tired eyes gaze fixedly at the viewer, yet devoid of attention, as if looking beyond.