NEW YORK, Oct. 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brooklyn-based gallery BlackBook Presents is pleased to announce a solo exhibition – Lives of Artists – by contemporary American artist John Ransom Phillips from October 24 through November 24, 2019. This exhibition will mark the artist’s second solo show at the gallery, opening on Thursday, October 24^th with a cocktail reception from 6:00PM – 9:00PM.

The Lives of Artists is a collection of paintings and watercolors that fluctuate between poetic meditation and an emotional exploration of dreams. Inspired by Giorgio Vasari’s landmark 1550 text The Lives of the Artists and Walt Whitman’s poem, “The Sleepers,” this series invites visitors to invade – and become part of – artists’ dreams.

“Its more than listening, more than dressing up in their clothes. It is more than appropriation or empathy,” Phillips explains.

Phillips becomes these artists by embracing their mythologies and highlighting memory as the fabric around which these artists build their perceptions, if not their identities. The careers of artists ranging from Blake to Basquiat function as organisms, looking backward and forward simultaneously, standing still for years. Many of his artists seek an identifiable image to guarantee public appreciation and acceptance and, above all, express a profound desire to be remembered and have their stories told.

John Ransom Phillips is a New York-based painter and poet. He received his BFA at the San Francisco Art Institute and PhD at the University of Chicago. Phillips began his tenure as both an artist and teacher, at Reed College, University of Chicago and University of California, Berkeley. Published works of writings and paintings include Ransoming Time: A Photographer’s Dream Book (Clarissa Editions, 2015), Small Diary of a Little Painter (Clarissa Editions, 2014), Beyond Nature (Clarissa Editions, 2014), Ransoming Mathew Brady (Hudson Hills, 2010), A Contemporary Book of the Dead (Hudson Hills, 2009), Bed as Autobiography (University of Chicago, 2004), and Reformation of Images (University of California, 1984). www.johnransomphillips.com

BlackBook Presents
BlackBook Presents is a gallery in DUMBO featuring exhibitions, activations, and immersive experiences focused on emerging and celebrated artists and talents. Since 1998, BlackBook has been at the forefront of art and media, helping not just to report on culture, but create it, as well. A division of BlackBook Media. www.blackbookpresents.com

Contact: Melanie Capruso                                                            
Melanie.capruso@digennaro-usa.com