2 adulthood agony and art
Tuesday, March 7, 2017 at 08:52PM
Phil battled with mental illness for the rest of his life.
'Dare Ye Open This Door?' - 17"x22" oil on wood panel, 1990
His time on Earth was marked by periods of great creativity
These are but a few of hundreds of 'journal cards' made daily during the 1980's, and as series 20 years later. On the backs, all are signed, dated and categorized in numerical codes, some are also titled, and some have intricate narrations & explanations.
Detailed images of cards are in the "KURZ ART" section of this site on the "Visual Art/decades of cards" webpage (links to the right.)
This box, titled "HOLY FOOL" is covered in streams-of-conscious fears, sayings, thoughts and advice from and to Phil's various selves. Inside it is filed: early poetry, very lucid business papers, copyright records for some of his writings as well as illuminating Artist Statements;all ranging between the 1970s to around 2014.
A close up of this file can be found in the Story of Phil Blog, page 2, "Adulthood Agony and Art." Some of the contents
are referenced in the "Writings" section of the KURZ Art webpages.
This small apartment is where Phil lived, worked and collected lots of cool stuff - some new, most old and re-purposed and ALL impeccably cared for and catagorized so he knew exactly where it was when he had an idea.
deflated by long dormant periods...
Phil, at age 64. He was a kind and mild-spoken man, fighting a brutal interior battle, that he lost & won on a minute-by-minute basis. - photograph by Deborah Jaffe
... when combinations of therapeutic methods and medications were tested, rejected, adjusted and tried again in an attempt to help him.
"Song#4" [above] is one of many visual songs made of painted 'melodies' [two shown] held together as sets in handcrafted boxes. These containers of series transitioned into his altars. Made as Phil became more practiced in his religion, he always gave them an offering, a visual image, a container and an actual source of light.
Finally, with the help of a generous research psychiatrist from NIH, Phil was able to better harness the benefits of medication, strict diet, exercise and, of course, creating art.
Cynthia Hatfield
Check out this amazing Ted Talk about Cecilia McGough, a remarkable college student with schizophrenia.
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the Point in Between - exhibition of Phil's work showing in the FLOOD Gallery in Black Mountain
through MAY 2018 until June 3. OPEN every day from 10am to 6 pm except closed Wednesdays.
stop by and check it out.
850 Blueridge Rd. Black Mountain, NC 28711