About
the
Artist

Guy Phillips left the advertising world in 1969 in his mid-thirties to explore the possibilities of becoming an artist. This decision did not come entirely out of the blue. While he left advertising in an executive management position with a large international agency, earlier in his advertising career he had worked in layout and design. At that time he also studied part-time at the National Art School in Sydney. There were artists in the family, notably E. Phillips Fox (1865-1915) widely hung in Australian museums, the artist’s grandfather’s cousin.

Traveled to Europe and lived in Florence before moving to London. This was the end of the “Swinging Sixties” and London was a ferment of exciting art activity. Took part-time classes at Sir John Cass School of Art in the East End, drawing mainly the nude and produced a series of paintings titled Man in a Chair which resulted in a one-man show at the Prudhoe Gallery in Duke Street, Grosvenor Square. The paintings sold immediately and were reviewed in the British Art’s Review, March 1972 as “…an extraordinary mixture of relaxation and taut strength. In their force and vigour they make an impact something like Francis Bacon’s figures .…”

Returned to Australia and had two one-man shows at the Hogarth Gallery in Sydney. Work sold well and drawings in particular were well reviewed. The urbanity of the London Chair Man series was translated into the Australian outdoor ambience; sea, beaches, and beach umbrellas. A more expressionistic style was emerging. A large painting was accepted in the 1974 Blake Prize, the national competition for religious art.

In 1979 the artist, his wife and daughter moved to the United States via London, settling in Westport, Connecticut in 1981.