Phillis Ideal’s work is about the materiality of paint which represents a wide range of abstraction: layers of transparent and thick, brushed and sprayed paint; collaged fragments imbedded in medium; xeroxed rasta dots, computer graphics, shards of other drawings; as well as, large gestural brush strokes. Thus, the scope is broad: the paintings exist as both a tangible material and as a catalog of visual language. She draws on different styles of image making from Modernism to Abstract Expressionism and Color Field to Minimalism and beyond to create her own language. Her studio practice underscores a playful and imaginative setting in which many moods, techniques and art history can coexist, referencing the vastness of the operations of abstraction. These paintings are moments in an open process that experiments with both formal relationships and chance elements to create meaning. In this work, she is interested in testing the system of making art within the mind of the artist and the viewer. These paintings are open to visual perception and stand on their own to engage an emotional and intellectual response.