{"id":20613,"date":"2013-05-01T23:59:17","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T05:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=20613"},"modified":"2020-02-15T10:17:19","modified_gmt":"2020-02-15T16:17:19","slug":"phil-barlow-artist-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/phil-barlow-artist-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Barlow: Artist Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Philip Barlow doesn\u2019t want to be pigeonholed, boxed in as this kind of painter or that kind. The 80-years-young artist says he keeps \u201cone foot in the box and the other outside \u2013 exploring the unexplored.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, in his exhibit this month at Phillips Gallery, you\u2019ll see a few moody landscapes, some narrative still lifes, and a bit of whimsy, too. Exploration makes him happy. And \u201cWhen I\u2019m happy, my art is happy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Though Barlow denies having a \u201cstyle,\u201d his oil paintings are consistent in their smoothly glazed realism reminiscent of the classical masters. For his highly realistic still life paintings, he carefully sets up his models, lights and shoots them and then paints from the photographs.<\/p>\n

Sometimes his subjects are simple and simply beautiful, such as a bowl of blueberries and a spoon. Other times, his subjects suggest explicit or implied narrative. For example, in \u201cHis and Hers,\u201d the models are two coffee cups, flanked by his and her respective eyeglasses and reading materials. Another painting features an old console radio on which a folded American flag is draped. Text at the bottom notes the date of President Roosevelt\u2019s broadcast and his words: \u201cA state of war now exists.\u201d<\/p>\n

These concepts for still life subjects often come to Barlow in the middle of the night, but he doesn\u2019t have to write them down; they\u2019re still there the next morning or when he starts his next five-hour stint in his studio.<\/p>\n

His affinity for narrative or communicating some kind of feeling for his subject may go all the way back to sixth grade when he created his own comic strip. Or maybe it stems from his career as a graphic designer, working with clients on advertising and packaging design projects, where clear communication was key. Or perhaps it was the influence of his instructors at the University of Utah \u2014 George Dibble, Leconte Stewart, and Doug Snow \u2014 or his favorite artist John Singer Sargent. All of these experiences and influencers produced an artist who can only paint what he cares about, whether it\u2019s the whimsical or ironic juxtaposition of objects, the way light hits a bowl of berries, or the way storm clouds gather over the landscape.<\/p>\n

After graduating from the University of Utah in 1962, Barlow set up his own commercial art firm in downtown Salt Lake City. Those were the days when the tools of design were pen, ink, watercolor, and gouache. Even as he produced work for his clients, he was using those same tools to create paintings for fun. He got involved in the Utah Watercolor Society and served as its president in 1985-86. He also found time to begin scouting galleries and began to sell his watercolors in Taos, Albuquerque, and Park City.<\/p>\n

Barlow later switched to oil paint and honed his skills in the classical realism style that he is best known for today. But with that other foot outside the box, he acknowledges that some of the biggest influences on artists in the last part of the 20th century were the abstract expressionists, like Pollock and de Kooning, and pop artists like Warhol. There\u2019s a part of Barlow that just wants to play with paint for the sheer joy of it. He may do so, alone in his studio where no one can see. But he feels an obligation to his galleries and collectors to meet expectations.<\/p>\n