Leon Phillips is a Canadian artist who lives and works on the traditional Indigenous lands of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations now known as Vancouver, British Columbia. He is originally from Saskatchewan where he grew up on a farm. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude, University of Saskatchewan) and a Bachelor of Environmental Studies (School of Architecture, University of Waterloo).
Phillips has had solo exhibitions in a number of public galleries, including the Two Rivers Gallery (Prince George), the Yukon Arts Centre (Whitehorse), and the Maple Leaf Gallery (Canadian Consulate General, Chicago). In 2013, his work and writing was featured in the international journal Cultural Politics. He is a member of the Art File Gallery at The Painting Center in New York and is currently an exhibiting artist of IdeelArt, an online gallery based in London, UK..
Phillips has been awarded grants from the Vermont Studio Center, the British Columbia Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. He has attended a number of international residencies: the Vermont Studio Center (2018), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2019), and the Banff Centre for Arts And Creativity (2020).
In 2021, Phillips participated in the 17th International Painting Symposium “Mark Rothko 2021” at the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre (Latvia) where he produced and presented work, was included in a group exhibition at the museum (with printed catalogue) and had five paintings accepted into the museum’s permanent collection. A video interview was produced by the Center in which Phillips discusses his interests in the materiality of colour and chromophobia.
Artist at The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, February 2019
Photo by Tony Eprile