Liza Phillips

Artist Statement

Liza Phillips has exhibited her paintings, sculpture, drawings and photographic prints in the US and the UK since the early 1980s. She received her BA in art and philosophy from Vassar College and received her MA in painting from Chelsea College of Art in London. She attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine in 1998. She had a solo drawing show at Smith College of Art in Northampton, MA. Her work has been shown at major museums and galleries such as the Whitechapel in London, the San Bernardino Museum in CA, The Sculpture Center, NY, Pierogi and Momenta Art in Brooklyn, and The Hefei-Kurume Museum in Hefei, China where the artist spent a month on a residency program in 2019.

“A theme in most of my paintings from the past several years has been the un-containability of our object-filled lives, and the fragmentation of our focus. My aim in these works has been to describe what it feels like to be in the world while addressing dark subjects like spilled cargo or plastic in the ocean. Intended with a degree of humor, they attempt to throw light on the unnatural world we’ve created and the anxiety we carry with us. For the Woodloch Lodge exhibit, I decided to try and express my love of the woods and wetlands, and respond to the tones and textures of the natural world. Many of the landscapes explore the local swamps in early spring, where the first stirrings of life occur. But sometimes nature doesn’t feel natural with climate change upon us, and it’s with a sense of longing that I spend a lot of time observing and absorbing the color and light of my surroundings. I have loved painting water since I was a teenager.”