About the Artist:

My name is Phil Fung and I am a Miami-born visual artist of Chinese-Jamaican descent. My root inspiration is illustration, street art, and humor.

Education

Christopher Columbus High School - Miami - 1998

Bachelor's of Fine Art -  Studio Art - Florida State University - 2002

Master's Art Education - University of Central Florida - 2007

Origin Story

My love for art began when I was a kid. I loved to read the daily comic strips in the newspaper everyday. That’s how I started to learn to draw. Calvin and Hobbes, the Far Side, Peanuts. Those cartoonists taught me to draw.

When I went to college at Florida State University I was undecided on my major. But all that changed in my Psych 101 class freshman year. There was a cute girl that sat in front of my the first day, and one day I sat beside her and drew cartoons so she would like me. We became friends and one day she turned to me and said, “Phil you are a good. You should be an artist.” And I said, “yeahhh.”

The following semester I was enrolled in the art program. That was some of the best advice I ever received in my life. 

Art School and early career

Florida State’s art program gave me the freedom to try everything I could possibly imagine to learn. I embraced the studio life and took as many classes as I could. I learned dark-room photography, graphic design, ceramics, computer animation, stone carving, lithography printing, figure drawing, welding, cast-making, art history, and of course, painting. I fell in love with painting and that was my graduating focus ever since.

My early career started in NYC living as a bohemian broke artist. It was so romantic and fun. But I wasn’t mature enough in my craft to make a living. I left NYC to visit New Orleans and transitioned to a street artist and got a taste for selling art. From there I never stopped sharing and selling my work.

Sometime about now

Nowadays I travel across the US selling my work at art festivals and street fairs. I am still painting and selling after 24 years after art school. I owe everything to my family, friends, art collectors and the pretty girl in Psych 101 for believing in me.

Enjoy.