Gather & Fold
Artist
Hi Brian! Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Brian Phillips, I live in Austin, and I make my living painting and making pieces out of salvaged wood, that I cut up and reassemble.
We haven't seen your work yet - do you have an art term for what you do? Is it 3D?
Not really. More like 'low dimensional 3D'.
Can you tell us a bit about how you work?
I didn't go to art school, and I don't have a particular process - some days I see how I feel when I wake up, I might want to make a painting, or a wood cut, or maybe a table from some old timber. But I always try to use materials that are being discarded. I want to keep it out of landfill and turn it into something someone wants to give me money for! It's something that I have always got a kick out of, I will pull my car over and pull things out of somebody's trash...
Do you have an idea and then find the materials, or find the materials first...
I usually find a lot of materials, and then have an idea of how to get rid of it all. I don't know how it happened exactly, but one day I just decided to pull together pieces of wood I have left over from various projects, and use it to paint on. After the first time, I couldn't go back to canvas. The way it holds the paint, and light - it's a fun medium to paint on.
The prevalence of recycled, upcycled and salvaged art and furnishings I have noticed since being here - is it something that is particularly big in Austin?
It's all over, but it is definitely more prominent down here. I'm seeing it more in the mainstream now, on fab.com and HGTV. It could also be the amount of ranches here, the availability of these materials and the romance of old West cowboys, of the "old" and the "handmade". I get it because I've always been drawn to it too.
Who are you referring, which will be our last interview?
I'll introduce you to Nick and Nadine from Sonnenzimmer. Awesome artists.
Photography property of Brian Phillips.
Archive
The referrals began with Leah Jackson who referred Stephanie Downey who referred Chris Hill who referred Jonathan Wallace who referred Dominic Hofstede, who referred Paul Fuog, who referred Ben Edwards and Juliet Moore, who referred Ryan Russel and Byron George, who referred Dianna Snape, who finished the stream with Jessica Brent. We also introduced Matt Hinkley who referred Warren Taylor who referred Yanni Florence, who referred Liv Barrett, who referred Fayen d'Evie, who referred Masato Takasaka, who referred Madeline Kidd, who referred Meredith Turnbull, who referred Nella Themelios.
In May 2012, we began a new Melbourne stream with Oslo Davis. He then referred Alexander Stitt, who referred Mimmo Cozzolino, who referred Fysh Rutherford, who referred Simon and Jenna Hipgrave.
In March 2012, we went to Austin for SXSW, where the daily referrals began with Sonnenzimmer who referred Landland and Hometapes who referred Zorch, who referred Brian Maclaskey, who referred Bobby Dixon, who referred Brian Phillips, who, through some auspicious coincidence, turned the SXSW referral interview project into a perfect circle, by referring us back to Sonnenzimmer. Then there was a giveaway to celebrate.