Leon Phillips: Whirl

THIS Gallery is pleased to present Whirl, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Vancouver-based artist Leon Phillips, on view from October 10–19, 2025.

Phillips’ gestural paintings immerse viewers in an experience where colour, material, and movement converge. Working with canvases laid flat rather than on the easel, he engages in a horizontal practice that heightens the physicality of paint itself—its weight, viscosity, and unpredictability. Through repetition and swirling layers, each work records the artist’s gestures while simultaneously prompting a vicarious bodily response from the viewer.

More than a formal exploration, Whirl also challenges ingrained assumptions in the history of painting. Phillips interrogates gendered biases that link gesture to masculinity and colour to femininity, proposing instead a non-binary understanding where both are inextricably entwined. His work becomes a conduit for shared sensory experience, expanding the language of contemporary abstraction and opening up new ways of seeing and feeling.

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