GINA PHILLIPS
Shape - Memorynew textile work + sculptures
February 17 – March 27, 2021
Biography
G I N A P H I L L I P S | | | biography
[lives & works in New Orleans ::: born 1971 – Richmond, KY]
GINA PHILLIPS is a mixed media, narrative artist who grew up in Kentucky and has lived in New Orleans since 1995. The imagery, stories and characters of both regions influence her work. She started her career as a painter, but over the years, has increasingly incorporated fabric and thread into her work. She begins a piece with a simple under-painting in acrylic paint on canvas or muslin…then finishes the piece by appliquéing fabric and thread on top. Phillips uses a communal gathering process to source her fabrics, as neighbors, friends, family often donate to her artistic process. Phillip’s work is characterized by a raw, narrative quality. The people and animals telling the story often embody a magical realism.
Gina Phillips has a BFA from the University of Kentucky and an MFA from Tulane University’s Newcomb College. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the country including Pepperdine University, Ballroom Marfa, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the 21c Museum in Louisville, KY, the 21c Museum in Bentonville, AR, and Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art at Piedmont College in Demorest, GA. In addition, her work has been presented at numerous art fairs including PULSE LA, PULSE Miami, Texas Contemporary, VOLTA Basel, Miami Project for Art Basel Miami Beach, Seattle Art Fair, and Art Market San Francisco. Phillips’ work has been featured in Art in America, Oxford American, The Times-Picayune and ARTNews, among others. She was selected as one of twenty-seven international artists featured in the Prospect.2 Biennial of Contemporary Art curated by Dan Cameron and her collection of fabric portraits was exhibited as a solo project at VOLTA8 as part of Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland. In 2014, Phillips’ work was featured in a mid-career retrospective at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, LA and at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR in a group exhibition of 102 artists from across the country, entitled, “State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now”. She recently completed a 5 month residency at the Joan Mitchell Center, sponsored by the Joan Mitchell Foundation.
Her work is in numerous collections including: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville New Orleans Museum of Art; Ogden Museum of Southern Art; 21c Museum, KY; the Drake Hotel, Toronto; The Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation; Tulane University and House of Blues (various locations across US.); Fidelity Investments Corporate Collection; Josh Rechnitz, Thomas Coleman, Ellen and Cooper Manning, Lyn and John Fischbach, and the collection of Marilyn Oshman
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
1997 MFA, Painting - Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
1994 BFA, Painting - University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 Oh My Land Is Like A Wild Goose, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS
2018 Crow Valley, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2017 The Roots of Memory, Hammond Regional Arts Center, Hammond, LA
2016 Friends and Neighbors, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art, Piedmont College, Demorest, GA
2015 A Thirsty Switch Still Quivers for Me, 21c Museum, Bentonville, KY
2014 A Thirsty Switch Still Quivers for Me, 21c Museum, Louisville, KY
Stronger than Dirt, May 2014, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2013 I Was Trying Hard To Think About Sweet Things (mid-career survey), Ogden Museum of Southern Art,
New Orleans, LA
2012 Friends and Neighbors, Volta 8, Basel, Switzerland
2011 Heroes and Villains, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Life Lasagna, Prospect 2 Biennial, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
2010 The Call of the Alluvial Empire, Delgado Community College, New Orleans, LA
2006 Southern Tales, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Birds of a Feather, Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Landscapes and Monsters, Crevasse 22, Poydras, LA
2017 Fabricated, Cornell Art Museum, Delray Beach, FL
The Unreliable Narrator, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Ketchum, ID
2016 Face to Face: A Survey of Contemporary Portraiture by Louisiana Artists, Paul and Lulu Hilliard University
Museum, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA
Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Ferrara Showman Gallery, George Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX
Atlanta Biennial, Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, Atlanta, GA
Crafting the Future, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
Gina Phillips, Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art, Piedmont College, Demorest, GA
2015 Katrina Then and Now: Artists as Witness, Cantor Art Gallery at College of the Holy
Cross, Worcester, MA (curated by Daina Cheyenne Harvey)
Seattle Art Fair, Ferrara Showman Gallery, CenturyLink Field Event Center, Seattle, WA
artMRKT San Francisco, Ferrara Showman Gallery, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA
2014 State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art,
Bentonville, AR
2013 Crescent City Connection, Dishman Art Museum, Beaumont TX
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans LA
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
NASA (Destroyed by Katrina)
Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Basin Street Station, New Orleans, LA
House of Blues (various locations)
21C Museum Hotel, Louisville, KY
Drake Hotel, Toronto, ON
Thomas and Dathel Coleman, New Orleans, LA
Marilyn Oshman, Houston, TX
Joshua Rechnitz, New York, NY
John and Lyn Fishbach, New Orleans, LA
