Phil Ralston

born 1953, Los Angeles

Phil is an abstractionist living in Atlanta.

His drawings are improvisations, but they show an exacting deliberation in their execution. There are no preliminary sketches. Each mark on the surface is decided upon with the appearance of the drawing, up to that point, as the main consideration for what happens next. Phil believes that these careful decisions regarding composition (line, form, lyricism, conflict and resolution, the occasional quirky human detail) can coalesce, becoming a complete image somehow recognizable by other people. One observer has written:

“Each work is contained within itself as a fully realized thought, but a thought that the rest of us haven’t had yet.”

Solo shows:

2011
Selected Works, OK Harris, New York, New York

2010
New Drawings, Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Selected Works, Stone Soup Kitchen, Atlanta, Georgia
Selected Works, J Costello Gallery, Hilton Head, South Carolina

2009 (February–March)
Works from the Pollock-Krasner Grant Period, Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia

2008
Latest Works, Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta

2007
Sleeping on Apollo’s Porch, The Gallery at Chastain, City of Atlanta,                   Department of Cultural Affairs, Atlanta, Georgia   

1996
New Work, Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia

Selected Group shows:

2009
Free Press in Free Fall, Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Athens,                   Georgia
AAC 6th Annual National, Atlanta Artists Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Group Show, The Temporary, Atlanta, Georgia

2008
Allied Artists of America, The National Arts Club, New York, NY
Texas National 2008, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas
La Grange National Biennial XXV, LaGrange Art Museum, LaGrange, Georgia

2007
New Work, Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
ARThouse Exhibition, Atlanta Gallery Association
Gerry Hull, Phil Ralston, Beth Filson, Holly Farrell, Mason Murer Projects, Atlanta

2006
Group Show, Mason Murer Projects, Atlanta
Draw! Group Show of Drawings, Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta
The Emergent Eye, Quinlan Art Center, Gainesville, Georgia

2005
Soulstice, Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta

1997
Art Auction to Benefit Battered Women, The Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia

1992
Phil Ralston & Patrick Giles, The Neon Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia

1985
Little Five Points Arts Festival, Atlanta, Georgia

1982
Group Show, Henry Hicks Gallery, Brooklyn, New York

Awards & honors

2009
First Place Award, Atlanta Artists Center Sixth Annual National Juried Exhibition
Nominee, American Academy of Arts and Letters 2010 Invitational Exhibition

2008
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant