Once upon a Time
2012.001.001 (A-I)
“Once Upon a Time,” is a monumental 21-foot long mural that is on permenant display at the CBU Campus. The artwork was originally commissioned by theatrical producer, entrepreneur Garth Drabinsky and featured in the lobby of Cineplex Odeon’s Woodbine Centre movie theatre in Toronto.
There is a mystery in all of Phil Richards’ works, a tension between the directness with which the surfaces are painted and the juxtapositions of figures and objects. The commission at the Woodbine Centre gave Richards a special opportunity to explore the layers of realism and illusion inherent in movie making. His painting is both an extension and an alternative to the lobby of the theatre. In black and white he refers to past films such as Citizen Kane and The Day the Earth Stood Still. He then brings these to life, through portraits of his friends who appear to take roles in movies. In the foreground he adds yet another level of reality, that of the movie-goer, through portraits of himself and his three sons. To cap off this complex layering of references to past and present, to the illusion of film and the reality of watching films, he contrasts ‘his’ theatre lobby, in the style of movie houses of the 1940s, with the architecture of the of the Woodbine theatre lobby.
Born in Toronto in 1951, Phil Richards graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1973. He has worked full-time as a visual artist for over 35 years, with numerous solo and group shows. Throughout his career, Richards has been involved in numerous commissioned projects. His large-scale murals include The Congress Centre (Ottawa), The Eaton Centre (Toronto), and the Cinedom Media Complex (Cologne, Germany). Richards is also an accomplished portrait artist with commissions that include a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, in honour of her Diamond Jubilee. The portrait was unveiled at a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace on June 6, 2012.
Phil Richard's work can be found in hundreds of collections in both North America and Europe and he currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario.