Tomorrow, Freddy Gallery in Baltimore will open "Problem Is You," a group exhibition featuring three artists: Aaron Carpenter, Philip Hinge, and the very much alive (but maybe not well) Brad Phillips. Instead of a traditional statement about the exhibition and the artists, the gallery offers a morbid, but brilliant, suicide note penned by Phillips, which probably sums up the exhibition more than any standard press release could. If you don't follow Phillips on Instagram, you should - it is an extenuation of the artist's unique practice that ranges from delicate near-photorealistic paintings to text based play-on-words to prose - his book Suicidal Realism is out now on the Swimmer's Group imprint. In the following suicide note, Brad Phillips offers his disdain for the mechanics of the art world and he narrates a spiritual journey of selfhood and artisthood in the midst of self doubt, depression and addition. Click here to read Brad Phillips' suicide note.
[MUST SEE] June Culp @ Freddy Gallery in Baltimore
Freddy Gallery presents a solo exhibition by Baltimore-based artist, June Culp. There is a compelling psycho-sexual violence embedded in Culp's paintings that is reinforced by the large scale and reductive imagery. The paintings are limited to mostly black-and-white depictions of what the artist describes as everyday preoccupations. These everyday preoccupations include fist-fights and strip clubs. On view until May 2 at Freddy Gallery, 510 West Franklin Street, Baltimore, Maryland