As we travel and move from rental to rental, Mr. Forager and I talk a lot about our future permanent home. We think about our ideal life, which, aside from a smallish house in the Northwest, can be a pretty fluid concept for us. We see so many people striving for that “perfect” life, the one we are told we should have, a big house in suburbia, perfectly manicured lawn and all. The work of Joseph Phillips website embodies this obsession in succinctly drawn works depicting dissections of perceived perfection.
Double-Wide Bunker with Paradise Package, gouache, graphite and ink on paper, 41×30
Duplex Bunker, gouache, graphite and ink on paper, 17×14
Scenes of neatly trimmed grass and crystal clear pools are isolated against a white background and we see from the outside looking in that these are manufactured replicas of an idealized life.
String Theory ( diptych ), gouache, graphite and ink on paper, 24×18 each
The utopian ideals take on a slightly sinister, Stepford-like aura, where perfect grass is revealed to be carpet, where pine and palms live together, where a perfect house comes with a bunker, acknowledging that life isn’t anywhere near perfect.
Vertically Integrated Model for Multi-Climate Living, gouache, graphite and ink on paper, 30×39
Auxilliary Lot with Site Plan, gouache, graphite and ink on paper, 41×30
To see more of Joseph Phillip’s work, please visit his Joseph Phillips website.
Artist found via New American Paintings blog. All images are via the artist’s Joseph Phillips website.
