Art Almanac congratulates Adelaide-based expressionist painter Tom Phillips as the annual Guildhouse Fellow for 2022. Inaugurated in 2019, the Guildhouse Fellowship, supported by leading philanthropists the James & Diana Ramsay Foundation, aims to both recognise and elevate South Australian artistic ambition with a transformative opportunity for one mid-career South Australian visual artist each year. Funds support a program for the research, development, and creation of new work to be exhibited at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA).
Tom Phillips, Guildhouse Fellow 2022. Photograph: Aubrey Jonsson. Courtesy InReview, South Australia and Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Phillips graduated from Adelaide Central School of Art with an Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts in 1997. His practice spans more than twenty-five years and he has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions nationally. He has been a finalist in several art prizes and his works are held in both private and public collections in Australia and New Zealand. His artistic output reflects on personal experiences and highlights social justice issues and the everyday experiences of loneliness, alienation, vulnerability, and hardship. Set in domestic, urban, and post-industrial surroundings, the subjects of Phillips’ figurative paintings are often naked or stripped bare. Phillips’ stories come to life with gestural layers of oil paint and oil pastels.
“. . . a paint brush warrior . . .”
“I see myself as a paint brush warrior and social commentator. As an artist, I believe art should say something about the world that we live in. The Guildhouse Fellowship will change my life; giving me the opportunity to further develop my painting technique and explore new subject matter, to work with curators and the Art Gallery of South Australia, and most importantly allow me to become a full-time painter, which has not been possible until now. I can now call myself an artist,” says Phillips.
“By offering this life-changing opportunity to mid-career artists, the Guildhouse Fellowship plays a critical role in the future growth of South Australia’s visual art landscape. We look forward to working with Tom on a presentation outcome at AGSA and are proud to be the platform for such important conversations,” says AGSA Director Rhana Devenport ONZM.
Guildhouse is South Australia’s leading organisation for visual artists, craftspeople, and designers. It engages and supports artists with creative and career development programs, including residencies, mentorships, one-on-one advice, tailored business skills development, network development, and opportunities to create new work.
