The Precursor:
Void:
a revisitation
Julian Phelps of Phelps Phine Art is a North Carolina native and artist. He uses a wide variety of mediums in his paintings including oil & cold-wax, enamel, mixed media, and others, and his themes focuses on nature and abstraction. He moved into Durham Arts Place in 2015 and was a regular for the art crawls and has exhibited widely across N.C.
Phelps Phine Art studio has two sections: the front room presents his paintings and the back room presents a continuing black light installation titled “Walk in Depth.”
After a two-year hiatus from studio exhibits due the pandemic, Phelps reopens Friday August 19th, 2022 with “The Precursor: Void: a revisitation.” Then onwards for the 3rd Friday Durham Art Crawls 6-9pm and downtown events.
The Precursor is Phelps’ beginning exhibit of the year 2022, a three-hour viewing of Void: a revisitation. I had conceived Series One in 2016-17. The title, Void, is to suggest a Zen and Śūnyatā understanding. It trails in my consistent search of the inner landscape, focusing on vastness. Series Two started in the summer of 2022 and introduces naturalesque shapes to the vastness.
These paintings range in size from 5”x 20” to 24” x 48” using the mediums oil, cold-wax and powdered pigments on canvas panel, some hand built and stretched. The cold-wax is home brewed using bleached beeswax and painting solvents. Paintings noted with an asterisks* denotes that the panel was hand built and stretched. Most of Series One paintings were hand built and stretched. The art of building and stretching the canvas panel prior to painting deepens the body of the artwork, for it contains the artist’s surging energy through the paint, cloth, and wood.
After the Void
10" x 20"
Oil & Cold Wax / Linen
Series 1 2017
(left)
Into the Void
10" x 25"
Oil & Cold Wax / Muslin
Series 1 2017
(right)
Hibernation*
5" x 20"
Oil, Cold Wax, & Pigment / Canvas
Series II 2022
(left)
Collected Thoughts*
5" x 20"
Oil, Cold Wax, & Pigment / Canvas
Series II 2022
(right)
