Interview with Phillip March Jones

Can you introduce yourself? Where are you from and where do you currently live?

My name is Phillip March Jones and I live in Lexington, Kentucky. Somewhere on the border of the Southern United States.



When did you start painting and why?

I have always drawn. I carry small notebooks around with me that contain detailed drawings, maps, writings and other musings. My paintings are often expanded entries that could appear in one of those books. I am also an obsessive collector of all sorts of things: leaves, bits of metal, stories, notes that other people have written.



How do you define your art? Bit of Astract / conceptual mix?

Everything I make has an intentional driving force behind it. It is rarely figurative, but I would not define it as abstract. The things, places, creatures and place I draw are all part of a narrative that I have been creating for as long as I can remember. The characters and places evolve and become more sophisticated with time, but the language remains largely the same.



Which Artists influence you (past/present) and explain why?

I am most influenced by artists that are described an "untrained" or "self-taught." I find such a rawness in the things they create. In particular, I admire the work of Howard Finster. He was a baptist minister from rural Georgia who decided to build his own version of the Garden of Eden in a drained swamp in the South. When looking at his paintings, you can tell that he spent hours figuring out how to make them. Teaching himself how to paint, how to draw. There is such an edge to them. Completely unrefined and beautiful.



Which materials do you prefer to work with?

I work with lots of things, but I prefer "painting" with gouache and inks. I tend to draw more than paint, I suppose. Only I use a paintbrush to draw and not a pencil, etc....



Do you have a specific technique when painting?

I have my secrets, I suppose.



Wood cabin or Studio flat in New York?

I work out of my apartment and sometimes and old barn on a farm near my house. Can I have both?



Where can we see your work in 2008?

Lots of places. I am showing in several large, curated shows in the Southern United States and working on showing more in Europe. You could always come to Kentucky. There's a lot of it here.



You can see Phillip's work at UrbanAngel.com