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RICK PHILLIPS

Celebrated Contemporary Oil Painter/Founder, Darley Arts Center/“Painting is like church. It’s within yourself.”

My path as an artist has included sojourns into illustration, advertising and design before finally emerging as a full-time fine artist and painter.


I’ve created images for companies like Campbell Soup and TastyKake, commissioned works for Bank of America and Glaxo SmithKline Pharmaceuticals, and fine art for many private collections like that of President Joe Biden.


Critics have said my style is reminiscent of 19th-century painters who used the richness of light and color to create atmosphere that could almost be touched. Painting outdoors, ‘en plein aire,’ is almost a religious experience for me. In that surrounding, I employ hard and soft edges selectively to develop the feeling of moisture, wind and the warmth of the sun.


In the city, in the country, or working on a still life of antiques and florals, I get to the heart of my subjects with loose and bravura brushstrokes, elegant and evocative color, and a unique sense of mood. My portfolio includes images of barns, fields and farmhousesas well as more nostalgic subjects like the rugged bicycles I remember as a child. My personal interest in interior design and gardening has also informed my art to be decorator friendly as well.


I am honored to be among a select few invited every year to exhibit at the famous Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show in Philadelphia. I am also proud to be participating in a creative partnership between Pratt Institute in New York City and The Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington DC. A personal achievement was establishing the Darley Arts Center, a gallery for visual artists and a center for art education and workshops, where I currently conduct classes.

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