Artist Biography & Facts

Philip Buller

Philip Buller was born to American diplomat parents in Delhi, India in 1954, but spent his youth mostly in northern Virginia and his ancestral home of New England. Buller moved to northern California in the late 80's. He received his BA in Painting and Drawing from Sonoma State University in 1992. Upon receiving his MFA from California College of Art in 1994, he taught private lessons and art classes at Santa Rosa Junior College for 10 years.

During this time Buller spent each summer in the Mediterranean, teaching painting retreats in Italy and Greece. His work reflects his respect and admiration for the Renaissance and Baroque masters while including references to photography, printmaking and other more contemporary processes.

In 2006 Buller moved to Galiano Island in British Columbia where, in addition to continuing his evolving painting practice, he has built a home and studios for himself and his wife, Janet Adler, the noted teacher of the Discipline of Authentic Movement. Buller is represented in the UK, Canada, and the US. His work is in public and private collections.

STATEMENT
I apply paint, remove paint - creating and obscuring forms. A form must be fully realized before it can be obscured. The ambiguity of a blurred image often encourages me to reach below a literal interpretation of form.

When this happens, it is less possible to grab onto a specific image and I am then compelled to remain within the realm of experience rather than the realm of reproduction. In this process my own engagement as a viewer guides me toward receiving the image rather than identifying it by naming it or placing it in a psychological or historical context.

What makes this process so challenging for me is that the evolution of the paintings themselves seems to resist conscious intention. I try to remember that the meaning, if there is any at all, will emerge in it's own time, leaving me with an awareness that the work cannot be hurried. When the painting is resolved, I feel as though something has arrived, like a fruit in an orchard, visible as an organic thing. In such moments I know that the painting is itself the meaning.

When I am engaged in the painting process, I am of course conscious of the sensations, thoughts, and associations. But rather than following them into the quagmire of willful, even enthusiastic intention toward constructing a certain meaning, I try to instead wait to be touched in a certain way; my feelings have to be stirred. Anything could spark deep feelings, but at this time, the human form seems to be the most direct pathway.

On those occasions when immersion in my intuitive experience is not working, when the whole process becomes most maddening, I am grateful to rely completely on the discipline of my painting practice. When I don't know what to do, I simply deepen my commitment to applying paint to canvas.
Philip Buller

COLLECTIONS & COMMISSIONS?
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, CA?
Opus West, San Jose, CA?
Adobe Systems Inc., San Jose, CA?N.
E.C. Electronics Inc. Mountain View, CA?
The Indus Group, San Francisco, CA?
Nordstrom, San Francisco, CA and Canada?
Kaiser Permanente, San Raphael and Santa Rosa, CA?
Sutro and Company, Santa Rosa, CA?
Berkshire Bank and Trust, Pittsfield, MA?
Great Barrington Savings Bank, Great Barrington, MA
El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA?
Bloomindales, San Francisco, CA and New York, NY?
Horseshoe Casino, Cincinnati, OH?
Saint Regis Hotel, Park City, Utah?
Opus West, San Jose, CA
?El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA?
Robert Allen Fine Art, San Francisco, CA?
Nordstrom, San Francisco, CA?
William Blue, Morro Bay, CA?
Gray Hartley, Nipomo, CA?
Roosevelt family, NY

PUBLICATIONS?
Robert Pincus. "In the Sprit of Velasquez". The San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 2, 2006

TEACHING?
1995-present: Private Painting, Freestone Studio: Freestone, CA and Galiano Island, BC?

1995-present: Retreats in Tuscany, Italy and Andros, Greece?

1994-2004: Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA?

1990-1996: Sonoma State University, Extended Ed. Department, Rohnert Park, CA?

1995-1998: Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA?

1980-1987: Heartwood Owner-Builder School, Washington, MA?

1980-1987: Becket Arts Center of the Hilltowns, Becket, MA

EDUCATION
?1994 M.F.A., California College of Arts and Crafts; Oakland, CA?

1992 B.A. Studio Art & Painting, Sonoma State University; Rohnert Park, CA?

1985 Illustration, The Illustrators Studio; Northampton, MA?

1973-1987 Graphic design & Painting, Berkshire Community College; Pittsfield, MA

Source:
Website of the artist

Born to diplomat parents, Philip Buller spent his formative years in vastly different cultures in India, Africa, Washington DC and New England. The young artist was encouraged by his family to explore his creativity in a variety of areas, and Philip developed an avid interest in music and visual arts.

He studied graphic design, toured as a musician, and worked as a builder before formally studying painting and drawing at the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he received his MFA in 1994.

Buller’s representational paintings are devoid of historical references, transcending literal narratives and signifying universal themes.

Compositionally intriguing, his paintings at first glance present a visual chaos of patterns and figurative elements. Upon closer inspection, however, they resolve into a sometimes dense layering of forms and figures, some distinct and detailed and others merely hinted at with lush, summary brushstrokes.

His compositions cohere as a result of the dynamic relationships between forms and color, and by a rhythmic quality that pulses across the canvas. Buller’s paintings are executed in part by utilizing a technique that involves painting directly onto metal screen mesh, which is then applied directly onto the canvas, transferring the imprint of the mesh along with the image itself.

The process, which has its roots in printmaking and reflects the artist’s background in graphic design, allows Buller to marry traditional subject matter with a more modern technical approach. Buller explains, “I apply paint, remove paint - creating and obscuring forms. A form must be fully realized before it can be obscured. The ambiguity of a blurred image often encourages me to reach below a literal interpretation of form.”