Brad Phillips is a contemporary Canadian artist and writer. He is best known for his work around subjects like addiction, mental illness, and the more obscure aspects of human sexuality. His first book of short stories, Essays and Fictions, was published in 2019.
Aesthetically, Phillips is noted for his photorealist style and often references his own photographs to compose his paintings. He is known for his dark and often sinister imagery as well as text-based works, many of which include literary references. He often employs satire, autobiography, and black humor in his paintings. Phillips tends not to contextualize his work or speak about his intentions. Phillips has had notable solo exhibitions at Division Gallery, Fierman Gallery, Wallspace Gallery, Monte Clark Gallery, Residence Gallery, Groeflin Maag Galerie, Galerie ZK, LaMontagne Gallery and at the Liste 07 Young Art Fair. His 2013 exhibition at Louis B. James Gallery was listed as one of the top 100 Fall shows by Modern Painters. His work has also been included in group exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Gallery, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, and in Guy Maddin's "The Keyhole Project" at the Beursschouwburg in Belgium and has been shown at international art fairs, including the Armory Show in New York, the NADA Fair in Miami, the Toronto International Art Fair and others. Phillips, representing Western Canada, was a finalist in the RBC Canadian Painting Competition in 2004. Phillips' artwork has been featured in The New York Times, Mousse Magazine, Blackbook, frieze, Carte BlancheVolume II, The Walrus. In 2017, Phillips began a conceptual t-shirt project that has become a minoronline phenomenon.
Phillips' first book of short stories, Essays and Fictions, was published by Tyrant Books in January 2019. There was an extensive feature on Phillips in Purple Magazine's 2020 S/S Edition, The Brain Issue Articles written by Phillips have been published in Modern Painters, The Enemy, The ArtBook Review, and Hunter and Cook. Artists he has interviewed for journals include Jeff Wall, Sean Landers, Daniel Gordon, Laura Owens and Kirsten Stoltmann. Phillips is also a regular contributor to Modern Painters, ArtSlant, The Art Book Review, Millions Magazine, Adult Magazine, and The Editorial Magazine, where he is a contributing editor.
