The Edmonton Muse April 2018 | Page 24

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Phil Alain is most known, these days, for his distinctly stylized paintings, often of musicians, but

also including depictions of human relationships and other subjects. His style, he shares, was

influenced by artist Didier Lourenco. The characters in Phil’s paintings tend to have features

such as embellished body forms, exaggerated proportions when depicting depth of field, and,

perhaps most importantly, a lack of facial features. What makes these works really intriguing is

that despite not having faces, Phil’s characters do no lack personality or emotion. Quite the

opposite. He has created a style so recognizable that you will know it when you come across

something he has painted, not only for the style itself, but for how the faceless characters still

retain their depth and humanity, and now their story is still eloquently told through colour,

atmosphere and body language.

What might come as a tremendous surprise, though, if, like me, you first came to know Phil’s

work by his stylized, faceless characters, is that Phil has not simply shied away from faces. In

fact, he can draw faces, quite expertly with charcoal, and the faces he has put to paper include

a string of great athletes captured in live action, from Wayne Gretzky to Michael Jordan, and

musicians, like Sting, but also include romantic scenes and the depiction of abstract human

experiences, such as pressure.

'ROMI MAYES'

'DIVA'

'DREAMS'

'mARK MESSIER'

'REFLECTION'

'WORLDLY THOUGHTS'