Artist Kerry Phillips transforms junk into art inspired by ideas of home.
Kerry Phillips’ “Evidence of a previous presence (new mountains seen from no fixed position)” (2022) PHOTO BY FRANCESCO CASALE, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND THE BASS
For Texas-born, Miami-based artist Kerry Phillips, there is no place like home. Inspired by commonplace and found objects, her work transforms the every day into visual, tactile and interactive installations that capture the warmth and eccentricities of domestic paraphernalia. For her first museum solo exhibition, Between the mundane and the miraculous, Phillips reinvents “junk,” including material discarded from her childhood home, in a series of new commissions that invited audiences behind the scenes a month before the exhibition opening to co-create the artwork. On view at The Bass Museum of Art through October 22, 2023, Phillips’ exhibition pays homage to the life of objects and the spirit of building collective histories.
Household materials are often discarded after time. For Phillips, these are treasures of memory, as she fills the museum with hundreds of jars, chairs, tables, fabric and more, repurposed with both old and new meaning.
Artist Kerry Philips PHOTO: COURTESY OF KERRY PHILIPS
“My parents still live in the house I grew up in, and because of recent work on the house, I was able to get the sculpted pile carpet from my childhood room in all of its awful blood-red glory,” explains Phillips. This carpet will be hung on the wall as an “obnoxious color field” tapestry and be accompanied by carpet wall “paintings” as well as undulating, layered floor installations.
Merging her private with public histories, Phillips views her exhibition as a laboratory and her installations as situations for making and storytelling. Activating the museum’s existing programs, Phillips will host free tours and educational workshops, offering her creative practice as a platform for others to bond and discover.
Kerry Phillips’ detail of “Evidence of a previous presence (new mountains seen from no fixed position)” (2022). PHOTO BY FRANCESCO CASALE, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND THE BASS.
She imparts, “When people enter the work, there is something they are familiar with—the object itself connects them to a memory, a story, a place, or a person. I reflect on these connections, these familiarities, and invite people to do the same.”
Phillips’ approach is unpretentious yet discerning, sprawling yet refined, accentuating the visual and tactile qualities of materials to create cozy and familiar yet equally curious environments to connect audiences with the meaning of objects and home, indicating home is where her art is. 2100 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, thebass.org
Photography by: Photo By Francesco Casale, Courtesy of the artist and The Bass
