Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel
444 N Summit St
Toledo, OH 43604
Thursday, May 2, 2024 | 7 p.m.
In partnership with 20 North Gallery, Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel is pleased to host First Thursdays, a recurring pop-up art exhibit showcasing the works of one Toledo based artist a month.
Join the Renaissance on Thursday, May 2 for an evening of artistic dialogue and discovery as we feature the artwork of Philip Hazard in the hotel's lobby. A native of Toledo, Hazard lived in New York City for over 25 years, co-founding the Let There Be Neon studio and being inspired by the energized and gritty sides of a big city aesthetic. His diverse personal life experiences influence the content and subject matter of his multi-layered mixed media work, in which he combines and layers oil and acrylic paint, photographic silkscreen, mixed media collage and assemblage on canvas, with neon used as the focus and emphasis within his work. His artwork is included in numerous public and private collections including the U.S. Embassy in Nepal (Katmandu). Now retired from a long career in the neon sign industry in NYC, as well as teaching studio art classes at The University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University and Owens Community College (Perrysburg, Ohio), Hazard continues to create new mixed media and neon fine artworks in his studio.
Artist Statement (excerpted):
"...Painting, collage, mixed media, metal, assemblage, text and neon are layered on my canvas to explore the larger context of the relationship between disparate images and their dialogue. The juxtaposition of unrelated images is intended to produce something more—the idea of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts...The use of text stems from my many years working in the neon sign industry in New York City. That is the source for my fascination of text, signage and a bold, billboard-like concept...My curiosity about painting techniques manifests itself in gesture splatters, drips and mark-making. The result is a constantly-changing layer-upon-layer surface, that is structured and thought out, yet appears improvisational, much like a jazz composition..." PH
