The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Write

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

DEATH ushered new life into a long-time hobby and passion for Bahamian fine artist Phillip Wallace. Since the passing of his mother and uncle this summer, he has discovered a new niche and talent in drawing portraits.

From the age of five, Phillip had a passion for art that flourished after he bought Batman and Superman comics constantly and emulated each character. It proved fruitful given that his skills were noticeably improving.

With such a talent in art Phillip decided to pursue fine art at the tertiary level at the Art Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "When I returned home from school I started painting cars and motorcycles,” he said. "It was more, sure quicker money as opposed to doing art at that time. So I backed away from art and dabbled into some other things. But my real passion is drawing and painting even though it is hard to make money doing art in the Bahamas," he told Tribune Arts and Entertainment.

After the passing of his mother and uncle, art became a source of a comfort and inspiration, he said.

"My mother passed away in June, so I decided that I would do a tribute to her because she was always on my side with my artwork. I did a portrait painting of her that stood on a tripod in the front of her coffin during her funeral.

"The next week my uncle passed away and so I figured, I could not do a painting of my mother and not do a painting of my uncle. I told my aunt to give me a photo of my uncle and I did the same for him," he said.

Shortly after completing the portrait of his uncle, Phillip received a lot of positive feedback from people who saw his piece. They encouraged him to paint portraits at professional level, instead of just as a pastime.

"People told me to push into painting portraits more especially because of how the weather is right now. The work that I do with cars requires me to be out-doors all of the times. But with paintings, I can be inside or anywhere and work. It also compensate for the loss of income I experienced when the weather is bad and I cannot do any body work on cars or motorcycles," he said.

Though Phillip's interest in painting portraits were inspired by the death of his mother, he has done several in the past.

"My mother was the main inspiration for me,” he said. "Before then, I probably painted one portrait every year; however I was never really focused on it. When I debuted the portraits of my mother and uncle, people suggested that I focused more on painting people. They said that it would be more beneficial to me, especially given that people would love to have a portrait of a loved one who passed away instead of a picture. Pictures fade after a while and it becomes hard to tell who the person is in a photo. But if you have a painting you can hang it in a foyer, you can hang it on a wall and it will last for a very long time," he said.

Phillip has painted seascapes, landscapes and wild life. However, he said he loves translating the spirit of a person to a canvas.

"The portraits that I have done, compared to the other art work, grabs people's attention a whole lot more. People are always seeing the regular Bahamian scenes, but when I do a portrait, to me it brings out a certain stimulation or it kind of grabs you.

"The level of difficulty in painting portraits is very high. I like when people say 'you can't do that' or 'nobody does that' or 'it is almost impossible to do'. People told me 'you can't draw your mom because she just died'. I just sat down and start doing it and within few days I was finished," he said.