In his new book, Negotiating the Universe, hyper-realist painter Richard Phillips, addresses the core of contemporary image making. Phillip's paintings cover a broad variety of themes including power, politics, celebrity, fashion, ideology, beauty, and sex. All of which are geared at posing questions about the status of painting today: Does the medium remain valid, or has it become a historical pastime?
By incorporating material from a range of sources - such as propaganda, advertising, entertainment, fashion, and even pornography - Phillips aims to identify the heart of contemporary art; encapsulating the relationship between viewer and viewed. Take a look at a sample of the work below.
 |
| © RICHARD PHILLIPS: Negation of the Universe |
