Paint, Ink, and Printmaking by Phil Cummings
Desert Summer, acrylic on masonite
Phil Cummings works in paint, ink, and printmaking, creating images that are dense with patterns and contrasting, graphic forms. The artist’s works balance abstraction and figuration in a way that feels at once contemporary and ancient, grounded in a system of tiling and square or rectangular framing.
Cyclops Stampede, acrylic on masonite
There’s a distinctly psychedelic feel to much of Phil’s portfolio. In his paintings, Phil emphasizes a far-reaching colour palette, with a balance of warm tones (yellow, and neutrals like tan and brown) and cool tones of blue and green. In some works, patterns come together to create a larger figure that is best seen from far away, while in other works the focus is on the smaller images within the gridlike formation of the canvas.
Phil’s block prints are striking in their use of high-contrast black and white imagery. It’s interesting to see these prints in relation to the rest of Phil’s portfolio, as exemplary of how the artist builds his images. The artist layers fundamentally simple shapes and geometric patterns to create images that are often quite complex and demanding of a closer look.
