Phillip Crum

Los Angeles, California

Phillip Crum works predominantly with acrylic on canvas, but will at times mix media to include oil, oil stick, and/or charcoal, to create works based in figurative abstraction.

Phillip Crum is a self-taught, West Virginia raised artist living in Los Angeles. Born from an urgent necessity to live truthfully, Phillip's creative life began at the ripe age of 31.

After studying acting and screenwriting for four years, he then devoted his energy to painting --- culminating in his first Los Angeles solo show in November '22. Investigating the dualistic, fleeting, and reflective nature of our lives while remaining stylistically unanchored drive his work.

Phillip’s work is derived from a practice in which each piece begins void of intentionality in an end result; often times painting over then deconstructing what's on the canvas until a image or story reveals itself in the color. The finished piece usually being an unknown figure in an unknown place at an unknown time facing a crossroads on a path to an unknown destination. Phillip states, “Art to me is a gateway, a bridge to the commonality of emotion we share as human beings. An exercise in relenting control in favor of surrender”.

In awe of art and artists on a daily basis, Phillip (when not painting) can often be found with floor seats at a concert, bouncing around the many Los Angeles galleries, or belly up with friends at his favorite bar-restaurants.

Phillip is assisted in his home studio by a short-hair black cat, Buddy.