GINA PHILLIPS

JONATHAN FERRARA GALLERY is proud to announce Friends and Neighbors, an exhibition of new fiber portraiture by artist GINA PHILLIPS.  The exhibition will be on view in the main gallery from 1 April to 28 May with First Saturday Gallery Openings on 2 April from 6-9pm and 7 May from 6-10pm in conjunction with JAMMIN’ ON JULIA presented by the Arts District of New Orleans, sponsored by the Downtown Development District. Known best for her mixed-media fabric portraits, Phillips’s third solo exhibition at the gallery features the newest suite of these characteristic works including her subjects’ pets and children. Often referred to as her “Cut-Out Portraits”, Phillips depicts her subjects from the waist up, rendering the figures vulnerable and positing of tragicomedy. The people and/or animals that tell the story often embody a magical realism.

Phillips says of this latest suite of work. . .

All the portraits in this show are people I know. Most are my neighbors in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood of New Orleans. I begin by photographing the subject multiple times. Then I sketch from the photos, sometimes combining elements of several photos into one sketch. After the sketch is complete, I trace the drawing onto a transparency and enlarge the figure using an overhead projector and then I redraw it on a piece of plain muslin. At this point, I use acrylic washes to complete an underpainting. After the underpainting is dry, I load the piece onto a long-arm quilting machine and begin the process of appliquéing various combinations of fabric, thread, yarn and hair onto the portrait. I use the underpainting as my guide for form, light and shadow, and color choices. I use the long-arm quilting machine as a free-motion, thread-drawing machine. After rendering the figure with fabric and thread, I cut it out of its background and pin it to the wall.  There’s an interesting dichotomy between the vulnerability of these truncated forms and the strong presence they emanate that speaks to the human condition. More than anything, in each portrait, I try to capture something of the essence of the person.           

GINA PHILLIPS is a mixed media, narrative artist who grew up in Kentucky and has lived in New Orleans since 1995. The imagery, stories and characters of both regions influence her work. She started her career as a painter, but over the years, has increasingly incorporated fabric and thread into her work. She begins a piece with a simple under-painting in acrylic paint on canvas or muslin…then finishes the piece by appliquéing fabric and thread on top. Phillips uses a communal gathering process to source her fabrics, as neighbors, friends, family often donate to her artistic process. Her sewn work hover between two and three dimensionality and often the backs of her pieces are as interesting as the front sides.