Philli Irvin builds a world of his own in solo debut at JXTA
Northside artist Philli Irvin’s exhibit “DRAIN-0: I AM AN ENGINEER” at Juxtaposition Arts that ran this summer. The theme of his exhibit was about building, breaking and rebuilding. Photo by Christine Nguyen
By Clarence Ransom, North News Intern
What happens when an engineer’s mind meets an artist’s soul?
Philli “Philosx3” Irvin’s debut project, “DRAIN-O: I AM AN ENGINEER,” unclogs the boundaries between invention and imagination, inviting viewers to experience creativity in a whole new way.
The North Minneapolis-based artist recently celebrated a significant milestone with the unveiling of his debut exhibition at Juxtaposition Arts on June 20.
Irvin grew up on the Northside, where he first started creating art as a cathartic escape from the stressful job he held in high school.
Irvin had many family members who influenced his passion for art, but his grandma made him especially crafty through all the interesting gadgets she made in his presence.
His collection of work, which was exhibited through Aug. 8, is the introduction to a fictional world that blends industrial mechanics and a magical substance that can unclog anything you desire.
This interview is edited lightly for clarity and brevity.
Q: Why name your debut “DRAIN-O: I AM AN ENGINEER”?
A: “DRAIN-O” is a short story that I'm writing. I started writing it in 2022. The story takes place kind of somewhere in the past, but also kind of in the future. It references Minneapolis history, the Black French relationship to labor in Minneapolis, and especially my personal family history, as a lot of people in my family are laborers.
But the story of “DRAIN-O,” and why I picked that name, is because this is kind of like a theoretical company. They have this all-in-one solution that unclogs your car, your sink, and really anything. That's why it says, “For blockage-prone systems.” So it's this theoretical company that I have made, and it's used as a metaphor in the story, showing how the main character has to go through a kind of cleansing and reconnection with himself.
Philli Irvin with his debut exhibit, a visual companion to his work-in-progress short story, “DRAIN-O,” where his work conveys resilience, curiosity, and everyday innovation. Photo by Christine Nguyen
Q: What does it mean to be an engineer?
A: This actually came from two things. First, I had watched this video on YouTube, and this engineer was building a basketball hoop where you could shoot from anywhere in the room and you would make every shot. And I was watching him because I'm just really interested in seeing things he built. So he's making this contraption, and he's failing over and over and over again.
So, this guy's like a genius, and I've never witnessed an engineer work before. That was cool to see him through this process of failure, but not taking it personally. And for me, that was an important thing to take note of as I continue to move forward in my career, but also just in life in general, not to take those failures so personally and to understand them.
Q: Tell me about the color choice, why the blues and yellows?
A: So the black, white, and yellow paired together give a very industrial look and feel, which is the setting in the world that they're in. And then when they hold that yellow, I look at it as a different kind of yellow. It's still very charged and energetic. But for me, it’s the essence of life and movement. And then the blue is very grounding, you know? And in this industrial world, they bring a sort of softness, but also an energy and a grounding to their existence and what they project.
Q: Where do you create your art?
A: I’ve created art in my basement for a while now, but I started off making larger-scale stuff in a basement. When I went to school in Columbia (College in Chicago), our studios were in a basement. There's zero sunlight. But I kind of like that feeling of being tucked away, and it feels like you're not really in the world. You can't really tell what time it is. I like that separation sometimes, because it just feels like you’re completely in your own thoughts by yourself. You're just making art.
Q: What inspires your creative process?
A: Art is cathartic for me. It's just a part of how I process. And so I just started painting. I would go home during my breaks, I'll have 30 minutes, (and) I would work. I would walk home, I would paint, and then come back. That was pretty much my day-to-day.
“Art is cathartic for me,” Irvin said. “It's just a part of how I process.” Photo by Christine Nguyen
Q: Are there people or any experiences that inspire your creative process?
A: In terms of the actual work, that's inspired by my grandpa, my great grandpa, my mom, my grandma, my dad, my nieces and nephews. They inspire a lot of the world, and the energy that I'm depicting in the art.
My grandma made me crafty. She always had the coolest pieces of technology. I don't know if it was for holding eggs or something, but it's all wood and it's held up by tension, and you would then put something on it. If we had a bag of chips that's open, she's like, “Oh, put this thing on there,” and it would seal the chips up. She always has these cool gadgets, which I'm inspired by.
She’s also very into rituals, ceremony, and history. Black and African heritage. She's a maker, a tinkerer. She has all the craft supplies you can think of, whatever you want to make. That's important to how she exists. She put me on to a lot of that, ways of maneuvering and tinkering.
Q: How have your failures influenced your success?
A: Failures showed me a side of myself and my experience that maybe isn't the easiest to hold, or something that I wouldn't want to confront. They show me the things that maybe need more attention, or behavioral patterns that I necessarily wouldn't see if I felt like I was doing everything right or achieving things. It just shows where you need to adjust.
I've been playing basketball a lot. What I love about that is the mechanics of it. But if you're shooting a shot, it carries a certain behavioral rhythm or truth that you can embody, because it's just so habitual, whatever your actions are. And then when you notice something like, I noticed that when I shoot, the ball keeps going to the left. So what adjustments do I need to make?
Q: What impact do you want your art to have on the Northside community?
A: Part of me wants to say I want to bring a new rhythm, but I don't feel like that's so true. I think I want to contribute to the rhythm on the Northside, but I want to introduce a cadence, or a harmony that brings people back to themselves, their being. I think we can get so far from where we are, and we could get wrapped up in so many other people's ideas or thoughts or ways of