Today we’d like to introduce you to Mick Phelan.
Mick, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Since my earliest suburban memories, I have been an artist. If you’re not familiar with suburbia, it’s a beautiful endless sea of homogenous consumerism. It’s not even a place — it’s a lifestyle, or maybe a cult.
I grew up not loving art, but pictures of art in magazines and books. You might think that I never grew up — I can’t tell the difference. I have no working hours. There is never a time when I am not an artist. I have always been me — except for that one time.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Right now, I’m doing mostly 2-dimensional painting and drawing. Then there’s time. My art always has a conscious temporal endeavor, so that’s a dimension too. Also, there is the dimension of the ground, the surfaces are pushing more and more off the wall — I can’t make it stop. I’ve been using plastic a lot lately. I like plastic. Plastic is inherently sublime.
I have been described as a ‘Pop Surrealist,’ which seems to work for people. I’m not sure I can describe it myself, other than it’s a record of observation. I got a public education while watching TV — my head is full of vicariously obtained information. So for me, we’re aboard a cruise ship on the river Styx where Cerberus is a three-headed Snoopy that guards a gated community. But again, I’m not sure that I am the best one to describe my work.
I like that people like my work — but I don’t do it for that. I do art everyday, I try to do something new everyday. I try anything to get something to affect me. I am looking for that secret map of the universe that is inside my skull.
What do you hope people take away from it?
I want viewers to hear voices in their heads telling them exactly what they want to hear.
What should we know about your artwork?
I have been thinking about the Rococo. I love Rococo; that conspicuous over-the-top gold-plated bling, allusions to sex everywhere, pink everything, and narcissistic homeowners hiring amazing painters to do epic murals of the rich on fake stucco vaulted ceilings with faux marble pillars. I love all those wonderful depictions of bolts of rich colored fabric twisting like psychedelic afterburn. It’s so much like where we’re at now — a huge prosperity gap between the elite and the deserving — all ridiculously lush — all irresistibly leading to a revolution.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
The best thing that has happened is artists can practice more at being polymaths, which a lot of us are. I don’t have to be one kind of artist anymore — not that I ever was. It’s just that people get it now and can get to see those other parts.
I don’t think opportunities are declining. It’s not better or worse — just different. Artists have tons more connection directly to art lovers. You don’t have to go through any prequalifying/prejudging network to find an audience anymore. The cost is, to be your own ‘gallery,’ you have to do the work of a gallery, and that means taking a lot of time away from making art to do management. The work in art is different today.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
You can see work online at mickphelan.com, facebook.com/leftcoastmick/ or at westcoastdrawing.com. In person, I will have some pieces at LA ArtCore in June, both at the Little Toyko and Brewery locations, and I am looking at a couple other exhibits in LA and Las Vegas soon. There will be more shows locally, and I will announce them on Facebook (‘Facebook,’ —yeah I know).
By buying it. There are many people that want my work but can’t get it. I am adding mediums for all incomes and sizes. I have one book and more to come. I even have a T-Shirt. I am looking into limited editions prints for pieces from my sketchbooks. I want people that like my work to have a way of getting it. I am loyal that way.
Contact Info:
- Website: mickphelan.com, westcoastdrawing.com
- Email: mp@mickphelan.com
- Facebook: leftcoastmick
Image Credit:
Mansfield and Wolfe
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