Paul Travis Phillips is a Winston-Salem based interdisciplinary artist and instructor. His work is concerned with the reductive, and potentially destructive nature of language. Phillips co-opts and subverts traditional sources of information such as books, articles and notes to explore the nature of language as it relates to the search for knowledge and meaning. The resulting paintings, installations, videos and resurfaced objects inhabit the space between this and that, here and there, confusion and understanding, inarticulate and nameable. Phillips’ work is about philosophy and the limits of language, both written and spoken, and the deconstructed nature of his pieces allow the viewer to venture as far as they are willing in a philosophical search for meaning.
Phillips has exhibited his paintings, mixed media work and videos across North Carolina and in New York, including at Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, the Ackland Art Museum and Duke University. Phillips has been an artist in residence at Milligan College and VCU Space and earned his MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He frequently presents on his research and conceptually driven works and is Full-Time Interdisciplinary Faculty at Rowan Cabarrus Community College.