Today we’d like to introduce you to Sage Phillips.
Hi Sage, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I’ve made art my whole life, mostly as a conduit for storytelling. I was always drawn to narrative experiences, and visual art felt like the most direct method of expressing them. As a kid, this resulted in a lot of drawings of colorful anime wolves fighting each other or other expressions of nerdy and “online” interests. I used to do a lot of digital illustrations and endeavors that involved the computer as a primary method of creation. Now, I think the desire for narrative comes out of an inclination to create a real sense of scale, environment, and world-building in my work. This may or may not still include anime wolves, haha! I grew up taking painting classes with acrylic but began painting with oils after being introduced to them at my first foray into higher education, Earlham College. Oil paints really ‘clicked’ in my head! It was the first time I felt like I could control and manipulate the paint in accordance with how I saw the world. After two years, I transferred to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where I continued pursuing a degree in painting, and graduated in December of 2022. Now, I maintain a studio practice (currently in the Dow Building in Saint Paul) while working as a studio assistant in the Northrup King Building!
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh, not. While creative thinking and practice come pretty intuitively for me, I spent way too much time in various agonies over how “good” I was and how “good” I “should” be in comparison to others, which is a fruitless line of thinking and only serves to make one feel terrible! I want everyone to make whatever they feel like and believe in whatever aggressively weird or strange realities they want. For, if you want to sculpt 1,000 tiny horseshoe crabs out of Jell-o and film yourself eating them inside a giant glass ball, Please! Do that, and don’t give a crap about anyone else.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar with what you do, what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in oil paintings! I do other things, too (like writing, photography, video work, and new media stuff), but that’s the thing I make the most of. I have a special interest in figurative and figural painting/drawing, as well as representations of the animal world. I’m super entranced by the ways we interact with animal psychologies and symbologies, and especially the way we use them to represent different aspects of being alive. I’d say my colorwork stands out the most and tends to be a thread that connects most of my creative projects. Once, someone described my work as ’emotional telepathy,’ which I think is an appropriate way to communicate a lot of my content!
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I’m a certified scuba diver!
Pricing:
- Pretty much all of my work is available, and I can give out prices by request.
- I’m also available for commission work (murals, t-shirt and tattoo designs, etc. etc. I do a lot, just let me know!).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sage.pictures
- Instagram: wolfbitten
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sage-phillips
Image Credits
Personal photo: Courtesy of the artist
