James Phillips

James Phillips was born in New York and spent his adolescence and young adulthood in Philadelphia. There, he studied at Fleisher Art Memorial School, Lee Cultural Center, and Philadelphia College of Art before attending the Printing Trade School back in New York. In the 1970s, Phillips joined the art groups Weusi and AfriCobra. Influenced by Ademola Olugebefola and other contemporary African artists, he also gains inspiration from African spirituality and incorporates African patterns and designs into his work.

Phillips has exhibited both nationally and internationally, from coast to coast and points in between as well as in the United Kingdom, Japan, Africa, St. Croix, Brazil, St. Martinique, Germany, Haiti, and Italy. He has produced public art projects for the city of Baltimore, Howard University in Washington, DC, the Department of Parks in New York City, the transit system for San Francisco, California, and Philadelphia International Airport. His work resides in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the American Embassy in Togo, Hampton University’s permanent collection, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Arts and Artifacts Collection of the New York City Public Library. In 1998, Phillips received his MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, where he now resides. He teaches painting and public art in Department of Art at Howard University.