Toys were never innocent playthings for me. They have their own agenda. While I’m suspicious of the helpful attitudes of action figures, I trust decay. Rust and rot provide my artworks with beauty.
I rarely start off with a design in mind; rather I prefer to riff off the objects I find and let them chart the initial course. Flotsam and jetsam speak to me, and I amplify that discourse into assemblages that often result in surprising resonances.
Sometimes they’re beautiful.
Sometimes they’re disturbingly familiar.
Sometimes they’re archeological evidence of a once proud civilization.
I’ve been doing this since I was 9 years old, when I fabricated “trophies” for my older brothers to commemorate their most memorable screw-ups.
I can’t seem to stop.
Born in Bronxville, New York. Raised in Philadelphia.
Currently reside in Reno, Nevada
Play is important. Through play we express our nature to the world. This is why Philo has been creating assemblages and ArtCars for three decades, and why he makes his living producing gamified projects.
Currently Philo is gamifying exercise with TAO-Wellness, featuring a mobile device that you can actually exercise with – anywhere. TAO took top honors at CES 2014 and should be on the market later this year.
Re: animation and games, Philo has produced over 50 titles for most of the top-tier publishers and developers in North America. His projects have garnered many awards including: two Editors’ Choice Awards from Newsweek Magazine, two PC Magazine Top Ratings Awards, Best Interactive Animation, Best Cartoon of the Year and Best downloadable Game of the Year. In 2011 Philo was a Featured Speaker at Google for their Games and Press event, and also for Silicon Valley’s Social Media Day.
Re: art, Philo is a sculptor whose assemblages and ArtCars have been the subject of over 40 exhibitions and frequent press articles. He is best known for artwork that interacts with the audience, namely his ArtCars for which he was awarded a 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Grant; and ArtGolf®, an avant garde miniature golf course first profiled in the Wall Street Journal in 1989, and still vital enough to take top honors at the 2007 Maker Faire. Art that engages people; art that plays.
Re: education, Philo graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University and received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Oregon, School of Law.