Since you all are gracious enough to share your creations here, I thought I would do the same.

My real name is Phil Scally. I am from Detroit, MI but currently reside across state in Grand Rapids. In 2009, I graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design with a Bachelors of Fine Arts (drawing emphasis with a minor in printmaking). I continued on at Kendall and received a Masters of Fine Arts this past May.

My work is very existential in its nature. I suppose the important thing to know when looking at my drawings is that there is no wrong way to look at them. I am a firm believer that, as the artist, I am entitled to have my own interpretations and expectations that are independent from what the viewer may experience. It does not mean I don't care what someone has to say, It's quite the opposite. I find the conversation the most rewarding part of the artistic process. I may add more to this post as I go but this should be an adequate starting point.

I'm not quite sure what my expectations are with this thread but I am open to any and all: questions, criticisms, discussions, ideas, clarifications, etc.

I have been on a slight hiatus after graduating in May but ere are some shots from my MFA Thesis Exhibition Of Being:

awesome work . I'll be back later with questions, comments and complete envy

Those are great. Thanks for sharing.

In the fourth picture I particularly love the one on the far left.

Thanks!
It's funny you should pick that one out. I have had several people comment on it and express bias towards it. I personally do not like it much at all. If you wouldn't mind i would enjoy hearing why that one stands out.

This is great stuff, thanks for sharing!

I liked that one too. It has a kind of violent movement that reminds me of a figure trying to get out of a straight-jacket. It's probably not that at all, but that's what came to mind.

Great work, dude. Really evocative; like you're doing with human embodiment what the Abstract Expressionists were doing with colour and mood.

Interesting about the straight jacket. All of these are based on portraiture or the figure . My personal goal is to show emotion, feelings, energy and substance that goes beyond the corpeal image of the "self". Basically try to show what can't necessarily be seen. I really like your description.

My influences are mainly early/mid 20th century. Alberto Giacometti, Francis Bacon and Käthe Kollwitz specifically. The Pollack comparison is spot on as well , not for the color but for the automatic/reactionary way that he worked.

I've had a screen capture of Lazarus I pinned up in my cubical for a couple of months now. How much do I owe you?

http://philscally.com/Large/Lazarus.jpg

Haha. I already sold it so I made my cheese on it. Glad you enjoy it. It was a tough one to let go of.


PS i just started to browse this forum but you have some outstanding photos.

Why do they all look like pictures of dogs?

JK, looks great to me!!!!

Hahahaha!

What is also funny about that is my Dad find an animal in every single drawing I do. It is usually a dog.

I like these, Phil.

I love this. Thanks for sharing.

I am fond of David Lynch's filmography and your pictures have that dark lynchian sensibility. I like most of them.

Are you a horror fan?

Giacometti, I can see that. Awesome.

Thanks for the link. I just updated my cubicle art as the screen capture was pretty shit quality.

One of my earliest memories is of my parents taking me to a stage production of The Elephant Man. It was a minimalist production with just a single actor on a stage with a sheet covering him. Lights were used to cast weird shadows across the sheet as he talked. It was stunning and something I still think about from time to time.

Your work reminds me of that production. Powerful stuff.

@Zeb & Sarah.- thank you! I've really needed an audience and some feedback while getting back into the swing of things. It has been a hard transition from 7 straight years being surrounded by it in school to being thrown to my own devices so the nice comments are truly appreciated.

@neo- I am very much a horror fan. From A+ to the horrible D- ones you can find on netflix. The macabre has always Intrigued me. My first favorite book was Mickey Mouse and the Haunted Mansion lol. It's not because I'm a gothy brooding person, there is just something powerful and beautiful in the shadows . I think a lot of honesty can be found there.


@T2B- I haven't visited the Elephant Man in years but that is a great story! I'm really glad you found a connection, that is why I make art in the first place. Figured you woul like a better image

@Harmless- James Lords wrote several Biographies on Giacometti. There is a short one involving a studio session called "A Giacometti Portrait" that pretty much changed my life as an artist. I don't know your poetry that well but for some reason I think you would enjoy it.

To me it evokes frenzied movement and--as harmless pointed out--a struggle for escape or liberation.

I find the inverted-C composition very appealing as well.