Gravitation – Work by Jacob Phillips

October 20 - December 30, 2017

Gravitation features collected examinations by artist Jacob Phillips of various environments that tell a story of movements in nature. Nature (i.e. organisms, time, natural elements) is nondiscriminatory in its desire to bring harmony to its surroundings, showing reflection through water, radiance from the sun, and growth from the earth.

Phillips gains his inspiration from environments that provide escape from a chaotic world. A particular focus in his work includes driftwood and its various properties. When driftwood travels ashore, it encounters a new life, having traveled from the past, lived, and later discarded from time. The surface of the wood has been treated by the tides, changed by the organisms that called it home, and partially crystallized by the sand as it arrives on shore. Materials used in this installation include audio, clay, cast aluminum, assorted paper, light, and assorted wood.

Jacob Phillips is a recent graduate of the University of Alabama of Birmingham and a native of Dothan, Alabama. He works in sculpture and drawing and addresses topics on tranquility and movement in nature. He was a recent arts instructor for the 2016 Alabama Charcoal Program at Space One Eleven in Birmingham, Alabama, and a Sculpture Counselor for the 2017 season at Bucks Rock Performing and Creative Arts in New Milford, Connecticut. Phillips has exhibited in galleries such as The Limner Gallery in Hudson, N.Y.; Space One Eleven in Birmingham, Ala.; the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Ala.; the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Ala.; Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment in Huntsville, Ala.; and the Abroms Engel Institute for the Visual Arts in Birmingham, Ala. This is Phillips’s first solo museum exhibition.