Meet Phil Dunn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Phil Dunn.

Hi Phil, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
“Better late than never”. It’s a cliché and yet it’s an apt description of my artistic endeavors. I was born and raised in Virginia and moved to Stilwell Kansas in the early 80s. I graduated from Blue Valley High School in 1987 with a failing grade in art but I was a pretty good photographer. My real passion at the time was movies and after a couple of years of working and attending junior college, I made my first foray into the arts by attending Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts in Orlando Florida.

I graduated with a degree in film production in 1993. After graduation, I spent the next few years freelancing as a camera operator first, in Charlotte North Carolina then back home in Kansas City. I worked on television shows, commercial shoots, independent films, anywhere I could make a paycheck. In my late 20s as life became more “real,” I decided it was time to change gears. I was newly married and had just built a house and freelancing was not getting it done financially. It was at that time that I put my dreams aside and went to work in the corporate world. I spent the next 10 years in corporate sales and sales management.

I learned a lot and I was successful but I always had a gnawing need to create art for a living. I felt like an artist without an art form. In my 40s, I became a restaurateur and partnered with a great Chef, and opened up a couple of food concepts in KC. First Nica’s Cafe in Overland Park in 2009 and then a much bigger concept, Nica’s 320 on Southwest Blvd. in the Crossroads. I was in charge of the sales and marketing side of the business as well as creating the look and feel of the space. I was able to express myself creatively in ways I had never been able to but it still wasn’t “mine”.

My family was a close one and prior to opening the restaurants, I lost my Father and within a year and a half, my Mother to cancer. during this time my Brother Brian was also diagnosed with brain cancer that he would eventually succumb to in 2014. I was fortunate to be in a situation to act as a caretaker for both my mother and brother in their individual battles. I moved in with my Mother for the last year of her life and then did the same with my brother. These experiences would irrevocably change my life.

After selling my stake in the restaurant, and no longer living as a full-time caretaker I was left with a feeling of hopelessness and a severe lack of purpose. I had dealt with depression and self-esteem issues for much of my life but this was on a scale that truly felt insurmountable. I retreated from life and essentially went into hiding. I worked menial jobs to pay the bills and I actively escaped reality through any means necessary including isolation and substance abuse.

After my brother passed, I was fortunate enough to meet my partner in life Cris. She is my biggest cheerleader and her urging me to follow my artistic instincts proved to be a catalyst for me to begin to move on and find my passion. In 2018, I started taking pictures again. Things had changed so much and there were so many new tools to create interesting work. I started taking pictures of trees and digitally manipulating them to create what I liked to call “psychedelic Rorschach tests.

As I was creating this imagery I discovered how resin was being used by artists and photographers to protect and enhance their work. I started watching Youtube videos on how to apply resin and it was there that I went down the rabbit hole. I began watching resin art being created which lead to watching other artists doing acrylic pour paintings and then moved on to other styles of painting, especially palette knife techniques.

I’ve always been drawn to abstract and surrealist art. I like the fact that it’s up to the viewer’s mind and perception to “connect the dots: and create imagery out of seemingly random combinations of shapes, colors, and textures. I began to paint. All. The. Time. Once I finally made a painting I felt was worth preserving I covered it with resin. Just like that, I was hooked. The colors jumped back to life like they looked when they were wet, and the resin provided a depth and clarity to every brushstroke, every clash of color, every texture. I had found my art form.

At that time, the idea of selling my art of working professionally as an artist was very much just a dream. I had come to realize that if I never sold a single piece of art it didn’t matter. Painting is something I would do for the rest of my life. It’s the only form of therapy that truly worked for me. It’s a form of pure expression and it’s mine. Every time I work I learn something new. I used to lament the fact that I didn’t have a formal education in fine art but I’m starting to realize that not knowing all “the rules” allowed me to paint with the freedom and abandon required to ultimately find my own style, my own voice.

Over the last four years, I’ve shown my work at Mod Gallery in the Crossroads Art District several times. I’ve been fortunate through the main word of mouth, to have created dozens of commissioned artworks for individuals and businesses. In the summer of 2020, because of my focus on working with resin I was hired to participate in creating artwork for Society, Society is an art gallery-inspired restaurant/nightspot at 2050 Central, KCMO in the Crossroads.

The opportunity to work for Society was amazing and I am forever grateful for it. Society allowed me to work on a scale I would never have been able to achieve on my own. I created over 70 tabletops, some are simply colored resin while most are individually painted with abstract art then resined. I poured a 266 square foot resin bar top. I created a massive abstract painting on their bathroom floor and doors of their bathrooms that has to be the most Instagrammed bathroom in Kansas City.

I built a resined sculpture of dragonfly wings with lights and a 24-foot wingspan and have several pieces of my art for sale in their private dining area. Finally, I was able to paint a massive 17×6″ abstract painting that incorporates neon light strips that adorn the entire east wall of the main dining area.

Cris and I recently moved into a house in Lake Waukomis, about 10 minutes outside of Kansas City. I finally have the space to have a home studio that I share reluctantly with my cat Butters. I’ve only just begun my journey as an artist, it just took me almost 50 years to finally really take that first step.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s pretty terrifying to start out as a starving artist in your 50s. I still have to supplement my income by working gig jobs. I’m currently working with the contractor who built Society doing remodels and construction and artwork for some of his other projects. So money is always a challenge. Resin is expensive.

I paint exclusively on cradled wood panels that I buy of the build so that my work can handle the weight of the resin. These materials are expensive. Time and energy are a challenge the older I get as well. The hope in the near future is to be able to focus all of my time and energy on my artwork as my sole source of income.

I’ve been able to achieve a modest amount of success without showing my work in the traditional art gallery ecosystem. It’s certainly not that I’m opposed to it and I have sold individual pieces to a couple of galleries in town, but it is challenging to be seen.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I paint abstract and surrealist paintings on wood panels and I cover the painting in a 1/8′ thick coat of clear resin. I also love to turn utilitarian objects like tables into a piece of art, as if you took a painting off the wall put some legs on it, and ate dinner off of it. I also create digital artwork as well so ultimately I am a multi-media artist.

The resin adds clarity and purity to the paint which makes it look wet. It ads a dimensionality and enhances and magnifies everything on the canvas. It also protects the artwork by essentially coating it in the glass. when I paint I’m always thinking about how colors and shapes and textures will represent under resin.

When I paint I utilize brushwork, knife, and blade work as well as pouring techniques oftentimes in the same painting. I love abstract and surrealist content. When I paint I’m opening up a window to my subconscious for everyone to see. I’m vulnerable when I paint, I’m physical when I paint. I wrestle with my paintings and they fight me until either I or they submit to what they become.

What do you think about happiness?
Simple things. The people in my life, the experiences we create and share. The natural beauty of the world we live in. Music. Art, mine, and the countless others I admire. The lost art of conversation.

The solidarity I feel for anyone who has the guts to put paint on a canvas and then present it to the world. I’m grateful for anyone who has seen and admired let alone purchased any of my work. That moment of clarity that happens when I know a painting is finished.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phildunnartkc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pdunnartkc

Image Credits
Phil Dunn and Taylor Cain of T.Cain photography