Bio

Phil Irish, an artist from Elora, Ontario, holds degrees from York (MFA) and Guelph (BA). His work has been shown at public museums, artist-run-centres, and commercial galleries across Canada. His work was featured at the Quebec City Biennial, and three times shortlisted for the Kingston Portrait Prize. He has developed new work during residencies at the Symposium in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, The Banff Centre, and the Vermont Studio Center. His time as visual artist on the Canada C3 icebreaker is shaping new directions in his work. He teaches studio at Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ontario.

Statement

I've been exploring how to visualize the transformation of the arctic in a way that is resonant, allusive, and of this moment.

The series is inspired by 9 days aboard an icebreaker in the Canadian arctic with Canada C3. During the expedition, it was so clear that ice formations are remarkable, dynamic forces of nature. In contrast to the impression of icebergs as poised and noble structures, they are never static. They are constantly changing, shifting, melting, spinning, and moving, subject to networks of forces. It has taken a few years of mulling over that experience to find the visual languages to speak of that experience.

I combine finely detailed brushwork, narrative elements, painterly gestures and bold hard-lined abstraction to construct otherworldly visions of the arctic. The physicality of the paint is key - layered, textured, the surfaces reveal a tension between abstraction and image making. The painting process involves risk and discovery.

Ethereal apparitions of classic architecture – Corinthian capitals, opulent buttresses, and winding staircases – emerge from beneath his majestic icebergs. Emblems of western culture materialize from the ice, evoking the sense that these glacial formations have silently borne witness to the transformation of the geography and culture for millennia.

Several of the architectural pieces include references to Venice. The sinking of Venice, and the rising of the oceans, seem like evocative ways to consider the meaning of the ice.

While all of these ideas swirl around within the work, ultimately the meaning of the works resist close definition. This pushes me to keep exploring, turning ideas over, and discovering why this line of investigation commands my curiosity and invention.