Miniature Objects and 3-Dimensional Art
Art by Phillip Nuveen
Let’s start our investigation and discover a little bit more about Phillip Nuveen and his beautiful miniatures.
Alla: Phillip, please tell me a few words about yourself!
Phillip: Well I’m an artist, designer, and extremely creative person. I’m in my early late twenties and work in several mediums in my studio in Brooklyn, New York. I’m pretty much an art and design junkie. I love love love beauty.
Whether it’s a beautiful object, a beautiful person, a beautiful building or anything beautifully designed and crafted. “Less is always more” is one of my favorite mottos to live by. I have my BFA in visual communication, which is basically graphic design. But outside of school, I think I’ve learned and taught myself more than I learned in school.
Alla: When did you realize that art must become part of lifestyle?
Phillip: Looking back I was always a very creative kid. I was always drawing and building amazing things. And my creativity has only intensified as I get older. Around the age of 16, I knew I should pursue a career in art or design.
Alla: What kind of music do you like?
Phillip: My favorite genres of music are electronic, jazz and classical. I’m pretty eclectic.
Alla: Who is your greatest inspiration?
Phillip: My top 6 inspirations:
- Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe
- Andy Warhol
- Norman Foster
- Charles and Ray Eames
- Karl Lagerfeld
- Anna Wintour
Alla: What is your biggest achievement?
Phillip: I don’t think I’ve achieved my greatest accomplishments just yet. Although, I feel I do work extremely hard and have achieved a lot at my age.
Alla: Do you take part in art competitions?
Phillip: I’ve never competed in anything.
Alla: What do you like the best about your lifestyle?
Phillip: I’m very thankful to the universe that it choose me to be a creative person. I think creative people have the answer to everything when given the chance.
Alla: If you would ever become a movie director, what kind of movie you would film?
Phillip: I’d love to be a director! I actually would like to move into working in motion picture, I’ve made a few very short films already. I’d say my motion film would be stylistically similar to Tom Ford’s “A Single Man”.
Alla: What is your biggest goal?
Phillip: My biggest goal is to achieve my standard of what being successful is.
Alla: Do you afraid of a failure, how do you overcome them?
Phillip: I think everyone who cares enough is afraid of failure. I know that I work very hard towards my dreams and even if they don’t come true at least I’ve spent my life working towards them. Which I think is a very noble existence.
Alla: What would you call the biggest adventure of your life?
Phillip: Moving to New York in 2010 was quite the adventure!
Alla: What’s integral to the work of an artist?
Phillip: Being inspired and keeping your eyes more open than everyone else I think makes a great artist.
Alla: How has your practice change over time?
Phillip: My practice hmm, well my discipline has certainly become more and more strict as I strive to build my business and produce art constantly.
Alla: What art do you most identify with?
Phillip: It would be very difficult for me to pinpoint what art I identify with the most. Art triggers an emotional response and I can never estimate what that response is going to be and to what art.
Alla: What work do you most enjoying doing?
Phillip: I enjoy all my work immensely, I’m just happy I can make money from my creative talents.
Alla: What’s your strongest memory of your childhood?
Phillip: I feel like I remember so much from my childhood, I have a photographic memory so my brain is quite full at this point haha. My strongest memory, if I had to pick, would be the memory of playing with my Legos around age 4. I loved Legos all through my childhood but that’s the youngest I can remember using them.
Alla: What’s your scariest experience?
Phillip: I’m not sure that I have a singular scary experience that stands out. But I don’t like being caught off guard. That is very scary to me.
Alla: What’s your favorite artwork?
Phillip: My favorite artwork is Norman Foster buildings.
Alla: What’s your most embarrassing moment?
Phillip: My most embarrassing moment is the same as my scariest, being caught off guard.
Alla: Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counteract it?
Phillip: I think that depends on the artist. Personally, I am a self-confessed workaholic, nothing makes me happier than my work. I don’t care much for dating or being in a relationship as that takes away from my art. But I always try to set time aside for my friends and cocktails!
Alla: Favourite or most inspirational place (in the city you live)?
Phillip: My favorite most inspirational place is NYC. Often when I’m overworked or tired I throw my sneakers on and go for a walk in my neighborhood. It always clears my mind and fills me will ideas.
Alla: Do you have any fears?
Phillip: I fear the process of physical aging quite a bit. But that’s just vanity. I fear to lose hands or them being damaged to the point that I can’t make art with them.
Alla: To which category of art would you identify the miniatures you create?
Phillip: I suppose you could categorize them as sculpture? Or 3-dimensional art, I’m not sure exactly I just think they are fascinating to look at once they are completed.
Alla: What kind of materials and tools do you use to create the miniatures?
Phillip: Anything too complex to make naturally I redder and 3D print. I love 3D printing! It’s totally the future. Other than that the materials are pretty simple, gloss acrylic sheets, foam core, boss’s wood and several kinds of adhesives. My exact knife does all the work!
Alla: What kind of materials do you use to paint and glue the miniatures?
Phillip: The only advances technology I use is the 3D printing. Everything else is naked my hands.
Alla: What do you think, who would appreciate your miniatures the best?
Phillip: I think anyone who enjoys art can enjoy them. I think miniatures are a fascinating form of art and is no less important than the other prevailing mediums of art in the world.
Alla: Do you cooperate with well-known brands?
Phillip: Yes! I love working with large brands and we’ll know corporations to help propel the visibility of my own art/brand.
Alla: Any suggestion you would like to give to those who would like to make art and their hobby a part of their lives?
Phillip: Making art or taking your creativity to the next level is a very challenging and rewarding prospect.
If your heart is in it, then you will be successful with your art! It takes time and complete devotion.
Phillips’s artwork is as fascinating as he promised. As you also can feel from the artistry, Phillip can clearly see himself in the deep waters of art and that is a very good sign of success.
Any of those miniature objects can become yours as Phillip successfully runs his online store, and you will undoubtedly find more of his artworks visiting the Etsy store.
You must see more of his cute miniature objects on @phillipnuveen and other artworks on phillipnuveen.com
It was a great pleasure getting to know Phillip! He is a very nice and intelligent person with whom you would be delighted to walk around New York City and have a conversation with! I wish for him to reach all his goals and to generate more and more fresh ideas that so easily fascinate people.
Thank you very much!
