Violent Design

I have painted all my life with spraypaint but prison was the first Time I picked up a paintbrush. I was in solitary confinement in Europe where they tried to get me to give up other people and was only allowed outside for 1 hour a day. After a while they introduced me to one other person who spoke English in order to help him with his immigration letters. In return he taught me how to paint.

During the pandemic I decided to pick up a brush again and start to create a body of work that was all traditional oil paintings. When I started to paint I was always drawn back to the times I was incarcerated and the objects that were burned in my memory. So, the subject matter of the paintings are all objects I encountered that were designed with the specific intention of being used in prisons around the world as well as objects made from prison labor and sold to an unwitting consumer market. An additional layer of an almost textured-looking orange resembling a torn prison jumpsuit was added as well as it was the single object I saw every day, regardless of where I was housed.

The process has been a very difficult journey, both through its conceptualization and while continuing to learn about prison labor and design.

If you know someone who’s currently incarnated, send them a letter.

I will continue to paint.

-Phil America