Killing the Negative Pt. 4

Hashimoto Contemporary is pleased to present Killing the Negative Pt. 4, a solo exhibition by Tulsa-based artist Joel Daniel Phillips. The exhibition is Philips' sixth solo presentation at Hashimoto Contemporary, and features a continuation of his ongoing series of Killed Negatives — drawings and paintings in response to censored government photographs from the Great Depression. Grappling with race, class, the environment and stratified socio-economic issues, Killing the Negative Pt. 4 is a meditative response to a selection of Government censored photographs commissioned by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression. Comprised of meticulously rendered charcoal and graphite drawings and oil paintings, the exhibition serves to bring the conversation of truth to the foreground, commenting on the veracity of the historical record. Phillips’ work centers around questions of historical amnesia, and the accuracy of the stories we tell ourselves about our collective pasts. In addition to the exhibition, Phillips debuts his newest publication: Killing the Negative, A Conversation in Art & Verse, by poet Quraysh Ali Lansana and Joel Daniel Phillips. Published by Left Field Books, the hardcover volume features a collaborative art and poetry conversation engaging with the hole-punched ("killed") negatives of WPA photographers such as Walker Evans, Arthur Rothstein, and Ben Shahn. Joel Daniel Phillips is an American artist whose work focuses on the idea of portraiture as a radical act of empathetic connection. Inspired by the depth and breadth of human experience, he strives to explore the personal and societal histories etched in the world around him. Through the tip of a pencil and the bristles of a paintbrush, his portraits examine questions of truth, power, historical amnesia, and the veracity of the stories we tell ourselves about our collective pasts. Phillips’ practice is centered on the belief that portraiture can be a kind of magic: In the face of immense difficulty, it somehow holds the power to connect us, building emotional bridges between humans across chasms of time, distance and individual experience. Phillips actively exhibits his work across the United States and abroad. His drawings and paintings have been shown at institutions including the National Portrait Gallery, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tacoma Art Museum, Art Museum of South Texas, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Gilcrease Museum, and Ackland Art Museum and many others. His work has been selected for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery for the past three concurrent exhibitions (2016, 2019 and 2022), at which he received 3rd prize in 2016 and Honorable Mention in 2022. Phillips' works can be found in the public collections of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery; Philbrook Museum of Art, Phillips Collection, Ackland Art Museum, Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, West Collection, Gilcrease Museum, 21c Museum Hotels, Crocker Art Museum, Fort Wayne Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum. He is currently a Fellow at the Tulsa Artist Fellowship in Tulsa, Oklahoma.