Phyllis Trager Hyman (1936-2011) Acrylic On Canvas "Parrot Snake" 2003

From The Estate Of Phyllis Trager Hyman 19 3/4" X 19 3/4" unframed signed on verso
Phillis was a sophisticated outsider artist whose imagery -- lyrical, whimsical, nightmarish, puzzling, and penetrating -- reveals a life fulfilled by creativity.Daughter of eastern European Jewish immigrants, her work was shaped by the melting pot of NYC post-WWII, urban social realism and the mind-quest of the Beat Generation, as well as the vibrancy of modern art, contemporary literature and world music. Painfully shy, she was isolated by and struggled with the stigmas of disability from polio and paranoid schizophrenia, from which grew profound awareness of paradox. Despite her challenging reality, she was buoyed by an enormous intellect. She absorbed aesthetic influences in palette, brushwork and line from artists as diverse as Chagall, Arp, Leger, Hans Hofmann, Ben Shahn and illustrators Ronald Searle and Al Hirschfeld. Acutely aware of the enigma that was her mind, she teased the viewer with a personal iconography of letter and number shapes, phrases and visual puns. Faces (both human and creature) peer slyly from her canvases. Though her disorder prevented her from the social mingling necessary for notice in the art world, Phyllis worked with strictly professional materials (oils, acrylic, canvas, paper, watercolor, pencils and ink). Living her art, she found joy in life and left a legacy of art worth preserving. Her vibrant color owed to her Gulf-coast Floridian residency. Gifted with a wry sense of humor and a steely gentleness, she depicted compassion, sense of place, love of the wild, vulnerability, and freedom versus confinement in kaleidoscopic, stream-of-consciousness drawings and paintings.. She was an avid follower of the art world and was registered with NARSAD Artworks, an outlet of what is now the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. {in house shipping available}