Ira Phillips’ paintings reflect both the continuation of a process of searching for order in his surroundings and an ability to produce something concrete without the restrictions imposed by external forces. An architect must grapple with the restrictions of budget, weather and gravity. A lawyer must operate within the bounds of the law. A painter has no such constraints.

At the same time, Phillips’ work seeks to impose order and structure upon itself rather than be the result of unconstrained gestures or random notations on a page. Ira uses layers of squares loosely organized and simultaneously obscured by “storms” resulting from washes of acrylics, oil and ink that bleed down the canvas to provide a structure similar to a musical staff or stave that informs the next layer of images. The resulting, final image is the culmination of layers of materials and hours of work that present the viewer with what is essentially a memory of the underlying process. Like the personality of a grown adult, Phillips’ finished pieces result from earlier layers of triumph, error, frustration and joy that culminate in a textured amalgamation of frames, voids, intersections and veiling.

Phillips trained as an architect and has practiced as a lawyer for over two decades; his love of design and search for order is reflected in his process and final images.

A nearly life-long fan of classical music, Phillips uses music and its structure as a source of inspiration for much of his recent work; not as a representation of any specific piece of music but as a reflection of the emotions and process developed by listening to a single work or a series of pieces of music.

Likewise, the use of color in Phillips’ paintings results more from the serendipity of working on multiple pieces simultaneously rather than any careful planning. Colors blend and bleed across multiple canvases in process simultaneously and serve as another tool to explore the tension between rules-based structure and unconstrained freedom. Phillips’ goal is that the energy of any referenced musical piece is celebrated in his final product.

Ira Phillips lives and paints immediately north of New York City where he lives with his husband, two college-aged children and Matilda, their English bulldog.