Artist Spotlight: Phillip R. Spence, In Honor of Art and Music Month
by Afrika Midnight Asha Abney

 

(Painting by Phillip R.Spence and Photo Courtesy of Phillip R.Spence) 

Brief Bio: Phillip R.Spence

Born in 1979, Phillip R. Spence grew up in Northwest, Washington DC, where the local attitude and culture was a world apart from the political establishment that the city is widely known for.   DC, however, offered Spence his first artistic opportunity at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.  Thought of at first as an escape from the city’s deteriorating public school system, Spence never knew Duke Ellington would lead him to his career as a professional artist.

 

After four years of foundations, he spread his wings and moved on to higher education, attending Maryland Institute College of Art in nearby Baltimore.  At MICA he favored more realistic interpretations and majored in illustration.  Not knowing his next step, Spence graduated from MICA, unsure where he was headed.

 

Wanting a change of environment, he moved to Miami, where his father lived, and enrolled in an MFA program at the University of Miami.  It was in graduate school that he first began experimenting with abstract painting.  His painting process escalated to a point where he felt confident in his work and he began to show in galleries and exhibitions.

 

In 2005, he moved back to DC where he taught and illustrated for two years.  Constrained by a lack of studio space and financing, Spence began working on a smaller scale and using digital applications in his artwork. Despite the evolution of his process, Spence found DC different from the city of his childhood. He felt disillusioned and yearned for a more nurturing artistic environment.

 

At 29, Phillip R. Spence now resides and works in New Orleans, where he is continually inspired by its authenticity and creative spirit. 

 

Visit his sites at www.philliprspence.com and http://www.wooloo.org/prspence/

 

What is your name?
My name is Phillip R.Spence.

 

Tell me something about yourself.
I was born in 1979 and grew up in Northwest, Washington DC, where the local attitude and culture was a world apart from the political establishment that the city is widely known for DC. I am a member of Black Artists of DC, Sojournals and Aesthetic Ascension.

 

I make abstract pictures in acrylic paint, ink, and or the computer. My work is born out a philosophy that things must be destroyed to create an opportunity for something new to be constructed. I use my compositions to explore color, shape, space in a way that I feel echoes a confrontation between the natural world and the artificial world.

 

What is your painting process?
My painting process attempts to capture my reaction to technology and nature. My work is intended as a document of the spiritual practice of observing and creatively reacting to the opposing forces of technological and natural subjects.

Who are some of your favorite artists?
Some of my favorite artists are Alma Thomas, Aaron Douglas, and Norman Lewis.

 

How long have been involved in the arts?
I have been involved in the art for more than five years.

 

Some of my current exhibitions include H.E.L.P. Illustrations, American Strife and American Strife 2.

 

For further information about these exhibitions, visit http://www.wooloo.org/prspence/s3Exhibitions.php

 

Where can the readers find more about you and your work or projects?
Viewers can visit my sites at www.philliprspence.com and http://www.wooloo.org/prspence/

 

Copyright © 2008 by Afrika Midnight Asha Abney