Joel Daniel Phillips
Region: Pacific Coast
The only way to truly understand something is to draw it.
–Le Corbusier At the center of my work is an attempt to sincerely grasp what I see around me through the tip of a pencil and a piece of charcoal. At its root, the act of drawing necessitates a concentrated study of not only the physical attributes of the subject, but the emotional as well. Every line in a face tells a story, and rendering this requires me to touch and explore each facet of my subject’s existence. My work focuses primarily on portraiture at a monumental scale. I am fascinated by the intricacies and vulnerabilities that we share as humans, and search for moments when our projected sense of self is transparent. I pursue ways to peel back the protective veils that we display to the outside world. A true portrait is far more than a rendering of physical form—it is a capturing of the uninvented narratives that make us human. Seeing and understanding these stories is my ultimate goal.
–Le Corbusier At the center of my work is an attempt to sincerely grasp what I see around me through the tip of a pencil and a piece of charcoal. At its root, the act of drawing necessitates a concentrated study of not only the physical attributes of the subject, but the emotional as well. Every line in a face tells a story, and rendering this requires me to touch and explore each facet of my subject’s existence. My work focuses primarily on portraiture at a monumental scale. I am fascinated by the intricacies and vulnerabilities that we share as humans, and search for moments when our projected sense of self is transparent. I pursue ways to peel back the protective veils that we display to the outside world. A true portrait is far more than a rendering of physical form—it is a capturing of the uninvented narratives that make us human. Seeing and understanding these stories is my ultimate goal.
