The Artist's Bite
2009, 8.5x11" (letter) sheet of paper, painted black on one side and white on the other, w/ hole in center bitten by the artist
(Cover of Jasper John's Painting Bitten by a Man) The artist has bitten a chunk out of the center of a piece of letter-size paper painted black, leaving behind a hole and the artist's teeth marks. The action of the bite transforms into an image to be seen. The bite conjures the presence of the artist, at work, and a flash of hunger.
The gesture of the bite keeps receding back into its muteness and impermanence, suggesting the hopeless desire to communicate verbally, and an endless hunger. It is a kind of contrary self-portrait because of what is pictured: the bite literalizing the self’s effort to be as real as the mark it leaves on a representational plane.
Bio:
Noah Travis Phillips is a collage artist working with their private media archive of “made, found, and modified” images to interrelate the personal, mythological, occult, cultural, and ecological. Their practice explores the posthuman and the Anthropocene through both digital and physical formats. At the same time, they aim to subtly insert themselves into art history by cultivating a personal fiction or legend.
They are an artist, educator, and scholar. (BA, Naropa University, Fine Art and Environmental Studies; MFA, University of Denver, Emergent Digital Practices). They are Assistant Professor & FabLab (Z-Space) Coordinator at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design.
They have exhibited extensively locally, nationally, internationally, and virtually. They can be found online at noahtravisphillips.com.