Ethan Phillips
Ethan Phillips - Curatorial Rationale
I have always been interested in things that are thought of as strange or unnatural. Mythological creatures, legends about the fair-folk, and supernatural occurrences have been subjects I have devoted personal time to researching. With these ideas in mind, my intent was to create pieces of art that present an unnatural subject in a naturalistic or normal setting. With such a contrast in mind, I used a combination of 3D sculpture and digital photography to overlay the unnatural into the normal. There is also an aspect of storytelling within my work, most of which I have left open to the audience to determine by themselves, so as to create a more self-driven viewing experience, rather than a guided one. Any and all stories the audience determines are correct.
My work has been influenced and inspired by multiple artists and authors. The photographic portraiture of Gertrude Kasëbier and Annie Leibovitz, with their focus on movement, led me to strive to include expressive movement within my work. I have also been inspired by the author William Joyce, especially by his book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs. This book was one of my main inspirations for the creation of my work featuring small wooden insects in various settings. Almost all of my pieces include some sort of implied motion. This is primarily to communicate the emotions of my subjects silently. Intense detail was also something that I wanted to include in all of my pieces, in order to make each viewing experience different. A fantasy sub-theme arose within my work as I created it, as the unnatural usually ties well with fictional stories and myths.
As I created a wide variety of work, my pieces are arranged in such a way that groups them together by implied “category”. However, each piece still relates to my theme of placing the unnatural within the natural in some way, be it by placing multiple of myself in one room, or showing the explorative efforts of an insect. The “categories” that group my work are clearly implied by the subjects of each piece, which vary between works.
Ethan Phillips
All in the Mind (May 2020)
Digital Photography
14 x 8 in.
This collage reveals how I am a very internally based person. As is such, I tend to enjoy doing things by myself, whilst talking or arguing with myself. This is shown through the duplicates of myself in almost all of the pictures. I also enjoy things to be relatively systematic, hence the even, film-like spacing of the collage, as well as the similar coloring of each picture.
Ethan Phillips
Ghost Hunt (May 2020)
Digital Photography
15 x 10 in.
I wanted to take advantage of the bright light of the lamp in the room beyond and the dark hallway, to highlight the contrast between the known and the unknown. The juxtaposition of myself going on a ghost hunt to find myself was also something that intrigued me, as one sometimes encounters the unnatural while going about personal growth.
Ethan Phillips
Party of One (May 2020)
Digital Photography
15 x 10 in.
I am a bit of a D&D nerd, which is to say I love D&D quite a lot. I wanted to capture the different stereotypes of an adventuring party in respect to the various roles of the game, while having only one person actually playing. Bards are usually loud and social, rogues are dark and brooding, wizards are nerdy and knowledge focused, and game masters usually have to put up with their party doing things they had absolutely no plan for.
Ethan Phillips
In Plain Sight (December 2020)
Fabric, Cookie Tin*, Ceramic Pieces* (*found object)
8 x 6.5 x 8 in.
I was fascinated by the thought of a household object hiding something sinister. I was mainly inspired by a monster from D&D, the mimic, which usually takes the form of a chest to then eat unwary adventurers seeking treasure. By using a cookie tin, I strove to encapsulate that idea with a more modern flair. I also wanted to use something that would be easily recognizable by most everyone.
Ethan Phillips
Campfire (October 2020)
Digital Photography, Wood Pieces**, Wire**, Ceramic Tiles*, Candle* (*found object; **part of sculpted figure)
15 x 10 in.
I like the idea of a smaller world within a large one, and the thought that a civilization of bug-like beings could be resting in the rubble of humanity is exciting, and yet unnatural. What we view as trash could be great treasure to such a society. I also wanted to show that our actions have effects on both the natural and unnatural, either in creation or destruction.
Ethan Phillips
Relics of a Bygone Age (October 2020 - January 2021)
Digital Photography, Wood Pieces**, Wire**, Candle*, Sticks, Lightbulbs*, String*, Wrench* (*found object; **part of sculpted figures)
20 x 30 in.
I wanted to show something that we see as normal from a different point of view with this series, mainly by asking questions about objects in our lives. What if one could explore a downspout, to seek the source of the water? What if a kingdom rose from the placing of garden edges, getting knocked over by the wind and rain? What if the broken links of a fence were connected by a series of bridges? These are questions I sought to answer in creating these pieces.