Interview: Phillip Simpson, Heidelberg Project
...his faces of God are all different backgrounds, all different faces, it's EVERYONE.
With the direction of Amanda Sansoterra, Executive Assistant and Director of The Emerging Artist Program for the Heidelberg Project, Shenyah Webb was given the opportunity to telephonically interview Phillip Simpson, an “Emerging Artist” from the Heidelberg Project.
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NAILED MAGAZINE: Hey, Phillip. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me.
PHILLIP SIMPSON: Of course! I’m really excited!
NAILED: You were born and raised in Detroit, right?
SIMPSON: Born and raised in the east side of the city.
NAILED: What was your upbringing like?
SIMPSON: I had single parent upbringing. I always tell people that it was just my Mom but she was lucky to have my family…My uncles, my grandparents. I really did have a village. I never really had a single parent household, truly I had my whole family that helped and chipped in.
NAILED: Sounds like a strong sense of community. That’s the way it should be.
SIMPSON: Yeah, I never really did have the issue of “where’s my father?” thing. We just had a big fam.
NAILED: Growing up on the East side, did you ever struggle with violence or schools?
SIMPSON: I’ve had my share of run-ins… Well, not really, I just knew where not to go. I was just talking to one of my friends recently, last week, and he is kind of a rough guy and he even might have sold drugs throughout his time and what he was telling me was that he is so proud of me because I never tried to go down that route. I just focused on my grades and my art and I guess it all paid off for me. Even the criminals or the gang bangers or that type of guy, they still give me a lot of respect because I stuck with my own thing. I thought it would be different. I thought they were going to tease me because I just chose to stay in but it was never like that, they just knew I was doing my own thing and respected me for that.
NAILED: Being on the east side, were you anywhere near the Heidelberg Project?
SIMPSON: It’s actually 10 minutes from my house.
NAILED: When the project began in 1986, how old were you? When did you have the opportunity to first experience it?
SIMPSON: It all began when I was four. I saw it for the first time much later, in the early 90s when I was 12.
NAILED: How did it make you feel when you first discovered it?
SIMPSON: I first remember we drove through it with my family and I had heard about it but never did see it. We drove up and I was like, “What is this place?” I couldn’t believe how much stuff there was! Everywhere! It was crazy!
And then in my 9th grade year I took a photography class and lord knows I was so shocked by the places they selected for us to shoot. One of the places was the Heidelberg Project. In this High School class they take a couple people from the class out to these locations and I was chosen. We went to Heidelberg and it was totally different than driving through it! Going through and taking pictures and trying to understand it. I was just blown away!
NAILED: When I first visited, I was shocked too. It was so strange how it’s all right in the heart of Detroit. When I first visited Heidelberg, I noticed the word “GOD” and “G-O-D” throughout the installation. Does that have a religious meaning?
SIMPSON: Yeah, super right in the heart! Tyree, when he uses the word “God,” he believes that “God” is a woman, a female. I know this but I’m not 100% sure of the meaning, this is my interpretation of what I was taught. But his faces of God are all different backgrounds, all different faces, its EVERYONE.
NAILED: I could see many people misinterpreting that. With our nation being so saturated with Christianity, I feel many people assume its religious root of Christianity. It’s fascinating to learn differently.
SIMPSON: Yeah, he questions that. He plays with that because religion is always going to be kind of up in the air among art and history. One of the pieces on the site is called “Big Business” and its one of my favorite pieces. It’s a cash register with “GOD” written over it and it has shoes in it. The shoes are the “soles” of the people. It really plays with who’s really getting all of the money. Is this for money? Or is this for a blessing? And if so, why can’t you just have your blessing right now? Why must you be in a temple? When you could just pray. Tyree questions that in his art and it always opens a dialogue. I think most of his artwork is faithful. Everyone walks away with something different.
NAILED: I think its pretty amazing to keep it open to suggestion and interpretation. Being inspired with this project and moving on from High School, what was your next step to becoming a more successful artist?
SIMPSON: I went to University of Michigan School of Art & Design for Drawing and Painting. I was just a handful of credits from finishing but haven’t yet, I ran out of the funds.
NAILED: What was your vision for yourself as an artist? Did you classify yourself as a “street artist,” with your venue existing in more unsuspected locations, or a “gallery artist” with a more predictable venue?
SIMPSON: I just wanted to create! Not really sure if I had one of those visions, really. I’m a little bit of both, I guess. I have done work in my neighborhood, like up on the houses and stuff and I do murals but I really just like to do art of all kinds, period. It could be sketching or painting… I guess I’m just super happy to be creative! I’ll never stop. You could take all of the galleries away and I would be fine. You could take all the murals away and I would be fine. I will always find an outlet!
NAILED: When you left college, how soon thereafter did you get involved in the Emerging Artist Program for the Heidelberg Project? Can you expand on this program for me? How does it work?
SIMPSON: That program has really only been around for two or three years, so I recently got involved. The Emerging Artist Program is under the guidance of Amanda Sansoterra. It’s designed as a 12-week program where you not only produce artwork but you also learn ‘the insides’ of the art business. You learn how to price your work, learn how to approach galleries, learn how to create an artist statement and a bio.
Amanda is helping me, along with the other emerging artists, to get our portfolios together so that when the program is over, we can actually walk into the art world with some knowledge. Most of us “Emerging Artists” are between the ages of 21 and 30, sometimes older. It’s artists just breaking into the art world, given the chance to have an opening as well and putting you in the spotlight.
They market your show on their website, their Facebook, The MetroTimes and Real Detroit. It’s a really great feeling to have them backing you. You apply with a couple samples of your work and an artist statement and she will help you to improve it if needed. It’s free, except the gallery gets 40% and you keep 60% from your opening show.
I was just telling Amanda the other day that it’s been a difficult challenge for me because I’m used to doing everything alone. I paint alone, I draw alone, I sketch alone. I have my girlfriend maybe look over some of my work but along with the majority of artists I know, we like to work in odd hours and I’m not really always open to suggestions in the middle of a painting. But its been rewarding for me to listen. Amanda has been really helpful.
NAILED: It certainly can be a challenge for artists of all types to learn collaboration. When and where did you have your opening show?
SIMPSON: It was on June 29th and it’s my biggest show to date! It’s called “SMILE!” I’ve had a lot of shows but this one definitely was the biggest! It was held in the Heidelberg Studio Gallery, our new gallery that we’re promoting.
NAILED: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me. One final question, when was the last time you nailed it?
SIMPSON: I could take that question a whole lot of ways! I’m kind of raunchy at times. The first thing I thought about was, “I nailed it a few days ago,” but really I think I Nailed It with this art show! It’s some of my best work!
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Read a personal essay about Heidelberg, Detroit by Shenyah Klaras, HERE.
Mike Boening created a photo essay, including the images above, about the Heidelberg Project. View the full PHOTO ESSAY HERE.
Detroit artist Phillip Darnell Simpson has been creating art since a child. Predominantly working in pencil for most of his life, he recently connected with the art of painting. Upon attending the University of Michigan, School of Art & Design, Simpson is now featured in galleries and neighborhoods across the city of Detroit. He completed the Heidelberg Project’s Emerging Artist Program in the summer of 2013. Simpson believes that if he makes one person smile with his work, his work is a success!