Philip Buller Exhibition 2019

Philip Buller new works Quidley& Company Fine Art

March 13, 2019 Naples, Florida

Philip Buller American, b. 1954 based near Vancouver

Philip Buller was born to American diplomat parents in Delhi, India in 1954, but spent his youth mostly in northern Virginia and his ancestral home of New En- gland. Buller moved to northern California in the late 80’s. He received his BA in Painting and Drawing from Sonoma State University in 1992.

Upon receiving his MFA from California College of Art in 1994, he taught private lessons and art classes at Santa Rosa Junior Col- lege for 10 years.

During this time Buller spent each summer in the Mediterranean, teaching painting retreats in Italy and Greece. His work reflects his respect and admiration for the Renaissance and Baroque masters while including ref- erences to photography, printmaking and other more contemporary processes.

In 2006 Buller moved to Galiano Island in British Columbia where, in addition to continuing his evolving painting practice, he has built a home and studios for himself and his wife, Janet Adler, the noted teacher of the Discipline of Authentic Movement. Buller is represented in

the UK, Canada, and the US. His work is in public and private collections.

Compositionally intriguing, Buller’s paintings at first glance present a visual chaos of patterns and figurative elements.

Upon closer inspection, however, they resolve into a sometimes dense layering of forms and figures, some distinct and detailed and others merely hinted at with lush, summary brushstrokes. His compositions cohere as a result of the dynamic relationships between forms and color, and by a rhythmic quality that pulses across the canvas. Buller’s paintings are executed in part by utiliz- ing a technique that involves painting directly onto metal screen mesh, which is then applied directly onto the canvas, transferring the imprint of the mesh along with the image itself.

The process, which has its roots in printmaking and reflects the artist’s background in graphic design, allows Buller to marry traditional subject matter with a more modern technical approach.

detail from Rodin’s Parrots

ARTIST STATEMENT I apply paint, remove paint - creating and obscuring forms. A form must be fully realized before it can be obscured. The ambiguity of a blurred image often encourages me to reach below a literal interpretation of form.

When this happens, it is less possible to grab onto a specific image and I am then compelled to remain within the realm of experience rather than the realm of reproduction. In this process my own engagement as a viewer guides me toward receiving the image rather than identifying it by naming it or placing it in a psychological or historical context.

What makes this process so challenging for me is that the evolution of the paintings themselves seems to resist conscious intention. I try to remember that the meaning, if there is any at all, will emerge in its own time, leaving me with an awareness that the work cannot be hurried. When the painting is resolved, I feel as though something has arrived, like a fruit in an orchard, visible as an organic thing. In such moments I know that the painting is itself the meaning.

When I am engaged in the painting process, I am of course conscious of the sensations, thoughts, and associations. But rather than following them into the quagmire of willful, even enthusiastic intention toward constructing a certain meaning, I try to instead wait to be touched in a certain way; my feelings

have to be stirred. Anything could spark deep feelings, but at this time, the human form seems to be the most direct pathway.

On those occasions when immersion in my intuitive experience is not working, when the whole process becomes most maddening, I am grateful to rely completely on the discipline of my painting practice. When I don’t know what to do, I simply deepen my commitment to applying paint to canvas.

- Philip Buller,

Blue Figure 30 x 22 inches

Boys on the Beach 38 x 39 inches

Brothers 60 x 80 inches

Crowd, Face 30 x 42 inches

Dark Parrots 29 x 42 inches

Double Down 35 x 41 inches

Evening Dip 18 x 21 inches

Girl, Girl 30 x 28 inches

Roddin’s Parrots 40 x 40 inches

Sea Town 41 x 34 inches

Silver Crowd 34 x 41 inches

Strong

23 x 18 inches

Those Boys 24 x 18 inches

Two Faces 41 x 38 inches

Two Men, Boat, Orange Light 17 x 22 inches

Look Who’s Coming 24 x 18 inches

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