James Phillips: The pattern plays the mind opens on Saturday, January 10, with a reception from 2-5pm, the artist will be in attendance.

Phillips' paintings of the last five decades draw on traditional African pattern, symbolism, and mythology to form a style of contemporary painting that defies categorization. His signature painting technique of interweaving planes of saturated color brings a three-dimensional quality to the painted surface, where visual and auditory experiences merge.

The pattern plays the mind presents paintings on canvas and paper from 1994 to present. Works on canvas hang like banners, the fluidity of composition and motion of the canvas reflecting the natural world in action – movement, breath, sound, and sight. Paintings on heavy paper employ a range of spiraling and mandala-like forms, with a constancy of action and energy.