Phil America (b. 1983) is a California-raised artist, designer and activist. He has worked and lived throughout the US, Europe, Asia and Africa, concentrating on individual moments of freedom while looking at relationships with class, gender and race. In his work he uses installation and sculptures, performance, photography, video, and fashion in searching for a better understanding and connection to his subjects while bringing about an interpersonal relationship between the viewer and himself. Recently he has started to focus more on using conversation as a medium as well as looking for ways to activate unused spaces.

In 2020 he has continued his focus on education, helping in the development of DEAR Burma, a free school for migrants with over 1500 students per semester and opening more schools in 2020. Along with the school he also hosts a class for students effected by the prison system at Los Angeles High School of the Arts as part of PoPS Organization. He has given 3 TED Talks and has lectured at numerous universities and events. Phil has collaborated with United Nations, International Labor Organization, World Vision, U.S. Department of Labor, UNESCAP, Planned Parenthood, International Organization for Migration, the Australian Government, World Pride, US Embassy, Seoul, the Sacramento Kings and other agencies and organizations to create art projects around the globe. He is also the founder of No Flags.

Phil’s most recent monograph, Above The Law: Graffiti On Passenger Trains, shows photos from his series Above The Law which has been show in museums and galleries on every continent on the globe. Our Side Of The Tracks, another of 3 books featuring the series, was released in 2012. His texts and photos have appeared in a number of books and newspapers and he has been featured in magazines internationally.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS / PROJECTS

Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, (USA) – Beacon
World Pride, Astor Place, Manhattan, (USA) – Colors Of Progress
LA Pride, West Hollywood, (USA) – Colors Of Progress
Franklin Street Works, Stamford, (USA) – Otherwise Obscured: Erasure in Body and Text
Office of the Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office, Sacramento, (USA) – Colors Of Progress
Sacramento State Capitol Mall, Sacramento, (USA) – Colors Of Progress
California Governor’s Mansion State Park – Sacramento, (USA) – Colors Of Progress
Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, (USA) – Colors Of Progress
Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, (USA) – Colors Of Progress
Traveling exhibition Colors Of Progress site specific flags
- California State Capitol Building, Sacramento, (USA)
- Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, (USA)
- Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, (USA)
- Perez Art Museum, Miami, (USA)
- Artpace, San Antonio, (USA)
- The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, (USA)
- CAM Raleigh, Raleigh, (USA)
- Plains Art Museum, Fargo, (USA)
- Birmingham Museum Of Art, Birmingham, (USA)

NCMA (North Carolina Museum Of Art), Raleigh, (USA) – Park Pictures
CAM Raleigh (Contemporary Art Museum), Raleigh, (USA) – curated Above The Rim
L’Alternatif Paris La Défense, Paris, (France) – Primal Scream
11 by Boris Bidjan Saberi, Barcelona, (Spain), A Modern Love Story
Superchief Gallery, Los Angeles, (USA) – WET

Downtown Sacramento, Sacramento, (USA) – Art Street
CICA Museum (Czong Institute for Contemporary Art), Seoul, (South Korea) – Contemporary Landscape
Beacon Project, Sacramento, (USA) – Undocumented
Beacon Project, Sacramento, (USA) – CAMP
Downtown LA, Los Angeles, (USA) – Night On Broadway
Swap Meet Gallery, Los Angeles, (USA) – Legal Goods
Public Art Festival, Athens, (Greece) – Survival
Moving Picture Company, Los Angeles, (USA) – Breaking Barriers for TEDxCulverCity
Think Tank Gallery, Los Angeles, (USA) – Drinkin, Smokin’, & West Coastin’
Gallery Also, Los Angeles, (USA) – Mistakes

CAM Raleigh (Contemporary Art Museum), Raleigh, (USA) – Failure Of The American Dream
Golden 1 Center (Sacramento Kings NBA arena), Sacramento, (USA) – Player Edition
South Bay Contemporary Art Gallery, Los Angeles, (USA) – Outside Inside
Incube Arts, New York, (USA) – Subway Gallery
Maxfield Lofts, Los Angeles, (USA) – Take Me Home LA
Colors!2, Raleigh, (USA) – Clark’s Promise fundraiser
Think Tank Gallery, Los Angeles, (USA)- Trap House
Current: LA biennial, Los Angeles, (USA) – Museum Of Snaps
Maiden LA, Los Angeles, (USA) – Museum Of Snaps
Bombay Beach Biennale, Salton Sea, (USA)

Solo Exhibition at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul, (South Korea), Design of Memories
Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taipei, (Taiwan), Fairytails
Think Tank Gallery, Los Angeles, (USA), A Transparent Truth: Phil Knight’s Song
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, (USA), Summer At City Hall, A Totem For Us in the Crocker Park
Sacramento City Hall, Sacramento, (USA), A Totem For Us
Square and Friends, Maroochydore, (Australia)
Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, (USA)
The Working Men’s Club, London, (UK), White Ambition
Love Gallery, Denver, (USA), Instant Gratification

Traveling exhibition Utopian Days
- Total Museum of Contemporary Art , Seoul, (South Korea)
- Nowon Culture and Arts Center, Seoul, (South Korea)
Solo exhibition at The Clockwork Factory, London, (UK), Failure of the American Dream
Solo exhibition at Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Bangkok, (Thailand), Journey Of Voices
Museo de Almeria, Almeria, (Spain), Slum Vacation
Greek Film Archive / Film Museum, Athens, (Greece), NIGHTSHOT
Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, (USA)
Traveling exhibition Freedumb
- Zona Cultura, Sofia, (Bulgaria)
- Perla Mode, Zürich, (Switzerland)
- Le Monte-en-l’air, Paris (France)
- Hashtag Gallery, Toronto, (Canada)
- Assemblage Studios, Johannesburg, (South Africa)
- 7 Tate, Brisbane, (Australia)
- Produções Klandestinas, Brasília, (Brazil)
- Spray Sport, Valencia, (Spain)
- Six Fathoms Deep, Bangkok, (Thailand)
- Aerosoles Graffiti, Lima, (Peru)
- Hook & Loop, Guadalajara, (Mexico)
- Square and Friends Gallery, Maroochydore, (Australia)
Portland Design Week, Portland, (USA), Pressing & Pulling
Dreamdva, Drumshanbo, (Ireland), Culture Night Ireland
Scope Miami, Miami, (USA), Art Takes Miami
Q Gallery, Brainerd, (USA), Correspondence
Samia Gallery, London, (UK) Gaza Fundraiser
BronxArtSpace, Bronx, (USA), Synthetic Zero
The Storefont, Chicago, (USA)
Visionaries + Voices, Cincinnati, (USA)

Museum of Modern Art – Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building, New York, (USA) – White Ambition, part of The Exchange Archive
Bangkok University Gallery, Bangkok, (Thailand), Villa in the Slums
Solo exhibition at Montana Gallery, Lisbon, (Portugal), Above The Law
Solo exhibition at Vess, Copenhagen, (Denmark), The Nefarious Face Of Chinatown
City Hall, Mestre, Venice, (Italy)
42-story Linc LIC building, public projection of Above The Law on skyscraper walls, NYC (USA)
Elks Lodge, New Jersey, (USA)
Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, (Canada)
Scope Miami, Miami Beach (USA)
See|Me Gallery, New York City (USA)
Art Gallery of Izmir University, Izmir, (Turkey), Above The Law
Production of films for Live at the Museum, shown at Münchener Stadtmuseum, Munich, (Germany), Ucity Art Museum of GAFA, Guangzhou, (China) etc.

Tower Art Gallery, Newcastle, (UK)

Maag Halle, Photo 10 / Zürich, (Switzerland)

SELECTED PERFORMANCES / TEMPORARY INSTALLATIONS

2018

Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, (USA) – We Stole The Fire (Molotov Cocktail Vending Machine)

2017

US/Mexican border wall, (Mexico/USA) – Bright Stars
Bonito’s Swap Meet, Los Angeles, (USA) – Legal Goods
Moving Picture Company, Los Angeles, (USA) – TEDxCulverCity installation

2016

CAM Raleigh (Contemporary Art Museum), Raleigh, (USA) – Failure Of The American Dream
Nevins Street Subway Gallery, New York, (USA)- The Perilous Fight
Los Angeles Museum Of Contemporary Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, (USA) – Museum Of Snaps

2015

Absolut Vodka Art Bar, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul, (South Korea)
Words That Bind
- Maidu Museum, Roseville, (USA)
- Sacramento Historic City Cemetary, Sacramento, (USA)
Community Center Theater, Sacramento, (USA), TEDxSacramento installation
Wynwood, Miami, (USA) – Mural

Times Square, screening of Slum Vacation on 25-story-tall digital billboard, New York, (USA)
Words That Bind
- Sacramento History Museum, Sacramento, (USA)
- California Automobile Museum, Sacramento, (USA)
- Sacramento Old Schoolhouse Museum, Sacramento, (USA)
- Sacramento Children’s Museum, Sacramento, (USA)
- Discovery Museum, Sacramento, (USA)
- California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, (USA)
- Heidrick AG Museum, Woodland, (USA)
- The Jungle, San Jose (USA), Failure of the American Dream

Klong Toey Slums, Bangkok (Thailand), Slum Vacation
Bangkok (Thailand), White Ambition

Chinatown, Bangkok (Thailand), The Nefarious Face Of Chinatown

INVITED TALKS / WORKSHOPS

- Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, (USA) – Silence Was Golden
- CAM Raleigh (Contemporary Art Museum), Raleigh, (USA) – Camversation
- Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City, (USA) – PETA talk
- SoHo House, Manhattan, (USA)
- Little Beach House Malibu SoHo House, Malibu, (USA)
- TEDxUCDavis, Davis, (USA)
- TEDxItaewon, Seoul, (South Korea)
- Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, (USA) – Art + Impact
- Dongdaemun Design Plaza, with the U.S. Embassy to Seoul, Seoul, (South Korea)
- Seoul National University, Seoul, (South Korea)
- Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, (South Korea)
- Ewha Womans University, Seoul, (South Korea)
- Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, (USA) – Summer At City Hall
- The Urban Hive, Sacramento, (USA), Changemakers
- Los Angeles High School for the Arts, Los Angeles, (USA)
- Alley NYC, Manhattan, (USA)
- Human Rights Conference, Manhattan, (USA)
- California State University Long Beach
- Venice High School, Los Angeles, (USA) – Pain Of the Prison System
- Bangkok University
- TEDx Sacramento, (YouTube video)
- Sacramento City College
- Bangkok University Gallery
- UC Davis
- Sacramento Childrens Museum
- California State University Sacramento

SELECTED BOOKS

- Legal Goods – Bloody Gums / Los Angeles, (USA)
- Borderless – Trespass Press / Zürich, (Switzerland) (upcoming)
- No Limit – No Flags Press / Los Angeles, (USA) (upcoming)

- Photo Project #1 – The Early Hours Press / Austin, (USA)
- Above The Law- Graffiti On Passenger Trains, No Flags Press, Los Angeles (USA)

- Explicit Graffsportz 2 – Alias Press / Ghent, (Belgium)

- Our Side Of The tracks – Alias Press / Ghent, (Belgium)

SELECTED PRESS

New York Post, Juxtapoz, Sacramento Bee, Gothamist, LA Weekly, Observer, Bangkok Post, The Guardian, Curbed, Inhabitat, Untapped Cities, BK Magazine, Vice, The Good Men Project, L’Oeil de la Photographie, The Creators Project, Arts Now NC, Mass Appeal