Artist Showcase: St. George Magazine
Darrick Phallon first became interested in working with metal while employed at Rainbow Sign and Banner. The job offered an opportunity to work with different metals as well as forming and shaping equipment. It also kept him busy, leaving Phallon without much time to do his own projects.
Phallon and his wife, Megan, have always enjoyed traveling, and even living for short periods of time, outside of the country. They’ve traveled throughout Central America and lived on the Grenadine Islands. Most recently they lived in the Dominican Republic for a time. Upon returning to Southern Utah, Phallon says he and his wife decided to make a go at doing what they really wanted to do. She began painting and he began creating metal sculptures through his own company, Elevado Metalworks.
Now Phallon’s metalwork can be seen in sculptures, furniture and building elements throughout the county. He built a stylized staircase for 2 Design. One of his abstract sculptures — possibly the tallest in the county — stands in front of Fitness Ridge in Ivins. More recently he created a stairway for an aviation lounge at the St. George Airport that includes aeronautical elements. “It looks like you peeled the skin off an airplane wing,” he says. He’s currently working on another staircase project that channels the Anasazi creation story through an impressionistic style similar to the paintings of Vincent van Gogh.
Although he has standalone, abstract metal sculptures and metal furniture on display at Gallery 873 in Kayenta’s Coyote Gulch Art Village, Phallon enjoys doing site-specific work at private homes and businesses. He likes to work with the unique lighting situations each location offers. Various locations also create stylistic differences and Phallon says it’s difficult to define what he creates. Is it a bench or a shelf?
“I kind of like to blur the line between furniture and art,” he says. “To me it’s just the intellectual and emotional challenge of it.”
Phallon says true art will often create both positive and negative reactions, but that’s OK with the artist because he believes the important thing is that people think about his work. That’s why much of his work is abstract, especially in regard to his sculptures. “I like to leave it open to interpretation,” he says.
Influence comes from stepping back from his projects and looking for a breath of fresh air that will make them unique and different. He’s always looking for an alternative perspective. That’s why traveling abroad has influenced his art, especially in a cultural manner. Travel was also important for raising his two children. Phallon says he and his wife felt it was important for their kids to see and live among different cultures. For now, though, Phallon is living in Washington City and doing what he loves: creating art from his St. George shop or on location throughout the community.
See Phallon’s sculptures and furniture at Gallery 873 in the Kayenta community in west Ivins. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Monday. To see Phallon’s work online, visit www.elevadometal.com. For more information call Phallon at 705-4155 or call Gallery 873 at 673-6628. sgm