Philip Jackson

Artist Bio

A contemporary realist painter, Philip R. Jackson's work has been shown in many national and international juried exhibitions and has been the spotlight of many museum venues. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Evansville Museum of Art in Evansville, Indiana and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Jackson is a recipient of an Individual Artists Grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a research fellow from the University of Mississippi and an internationally juried fellowship from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation in Montreal, Canada, which recognized him as a premier realist painter.

Jackson's work was included the Still-Life Issue of Southwest Art Magazine and was the subject of an extraordinary cover story in American Artist Magazine. Most recently his work was included in the November, 2009 issue of Art In America written by Peter Plagens. Last year celebrated Jackson's first major survey of paintings at the Evansville Museum of Art in Evansville, Indiana. In the 103rd history of the museum, he is the youngest artist ever chosen to exhibit. He received his BFA from the Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio and his MFA from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Currently, he is the Painting Area Head in the Department of Art at The University of Mississippi in Oxford.

Artist Statement

My paintings celebrate precarious and unpredictable, yet everyday experiences through commonplace objects. Through the still life I am able to use objects that by nature are inanimate and usually serve practical or decorative purposes but through a radiant illumination of color and light they demand their own supernatural presence. Each object seems to seek freedom from associations of its trivial past and ascend into an implied state of actuality. I intentionally place each object into a theatrically charged space to remove its once casual snack or dust–ridden trophy status and present the object with its own unique stage of animated reality. Through my motivation of visual curiosity, I hope that my paintings will stir the hearts and minds of viewers to pause during their daily routine and experience special moments of wonder.

Artist Exhibitions

Education

2002 MFA • Bowling Green State University • Bowling Green, Ohio
2001 Summer Study • (SACI) Studio Art Centers International • Florence, Italy 
2000 BFA • Columbus College of Art and Design • Columbus, Ohio

Professional Experience

2006–Present Assistant Professor of Art • Painting Area Head • University of Mississippi • Oxford, Mississippi

Permanent Collections

Evansville Museum of Art, History, & Science • Evansville, Indiana
Fort Wayne Museum of Art • Fort Wayne, Indiana
West Baden Springs Resort • French Lick, Indiana

Awards/ Grants

2008 Mississippi Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant
2008 Faculty Research Grant • The University of Mississippi • Oxford, Mississippi
2006 Finalist • Artist’s Magazine Competition • Still Life Category
2001  Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Fellowship • Montreal, Canada
Full Graduate Fellowship • Bowling Green State University • Bowling Green, Ohio
Graduate Student Fellowship • Ohio State Board Of Regents • Columbus, Ohio

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2009 Still-Life As Theater • The University of North Carolina • Asheville, North Carolina
Still-Life Theatre • The University of Mississippi Museum of Art • Oxford, Mississippi
2008 Philip R. Jackson :Martha and Merritt DeJong Memorial Artist-in-Residence • Evansville Museum of Art Evansville, Indiana • Catalog
2007 Philip R. Jackson: Still-Life Theatre • Hammond Harkins Gallery • Columbus, Ohio
2006 Stage-Struck • McMurtrey Gallery • Houston, Texas
Tension Series • Hammond Harkins Gallery • Columbus, Ohio

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