Celebrity Skin

Two x Two honoree Richard Phillips captures the multiple meanings of modernicons

Artist Richard Phillips is being honored at the 2012 Two x Two for AIDS and Art.
Photo courtesy of Richard Phillips Studio and Gagosian Gallery
Lindsey V will be auctioned off during Two x Two.
Photo courtesy of Richard Phillips Studio and Gagosian Gallery
Vote Romney by Richard Phillips.
Photo courtesy of Richard Phillips Studio and Gagosian Gallery
Red, Blonde, and Blue by Richard Phillips.
Photo courtesy of Richard Phillips Studio and Gagosian Gallery
Ariana by Richard Phillips.
Photo courtesy of Richard Phillips Studio and Gagosian Gallery
Nuclear by Richard Phillips.
Photo courtesy of Richard Phillips Studio and Gagosian Gallery
Mask by Richard Philips.
Photo courtesy of Richard Phillips Studio and Gagosian Gallery

You might have seen them on the pages of the New York Times and Interview. Or on the walls of MOMA, Tate Modern or the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. You may have even seen one on Gossip Girl.

If you’ve ever viewed a painting by Richard Phillips, you’d know it. Super-sized and hyper-realistic, his distinctive works lodge in the viewers’ minds long after they turn away from the wall. This weekend, the artist himself takes center stage at the annual Two x Two for AIDS and Art, where he will be honored with the amfAR Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS.

Phillips started his career in the early ’90s as a sculptor and line artist. He refined his iconic style of oil painting shortly before his first Dallas exhibit at Deep Ellum’s Turner & Runyon Gallery in 1997.

“The support I got from the people of Dallas has stayed with me throughout my career,” Phillips says.

“It was a really ultra-important moment for me,” Phillips recalls. “John and Kenneth [Runyon and Turner] saw my show at [New York’s] Edward Thorp Gallery in 1996 and took that risk on me. I was completely unknown at the time, but many of those paintings I did for them are truly the most iconic paintings I’ve ever done. It was very prescient, and the support I got from the people of Dallas at the time has stayed with me throughout my career.”

In fact, Dallasites have swayed the artist’s focus, however inadvertently. A fortuitous studio visit by Two x Two co-host Howard Rachofsky led to Phillips’ donation of his Lindsay Lohan portrait Red, Blonde, and Blue — which sold in 2010 for $360,000 — as well as becoming the catalyst for all the work Phillips has created since.

“Dominic Sidhu, who became eventual creative director on my films, was on a shoot with Lindsay and showed her a picture on his cell phone of Red, Blonde, and Blue,” Phillips says. “She was quite surprised, so he suggested that we work together.”

The result was a collaboration between Phillips and legendary surf filmmaker Taylor Steele starring Lohan, which premiered at the 2011 Biennale di Venezia before going viral on YouTube, garnering millions of hits.

When certain stills of the film became placeholders on blogs and websites, it drove the singular images Phillips would choose for his next set of paintings. Moments from shorts he directed of Lohan and the actress Sasha Grey became paintings for his recent critically debated show at New York’s Gagosian Gallery, inverting the artist’s usual process. One of these — Lindsay V — will be auctioned off Saturday night at the Rachofsky House during Two x Two.

Although his recent work may seem a continual exploration of the meaning of celebrity, Phillips says it’s less about the famed and more about how “art aligns itself with different structures of influence.” His recent painting of Mitt Romney for the We The People exhibit at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation is one of the largest in his career and no doubt his most multilayered.

“The value of how we look at it changes on a day-to-day basis,” he says. “When we first hung it, [Romney] was down in the polls, and the next day he won the debate. It’s not an ironic or satirical political painting used to denigrate a candidate; it’s a straightforward presentation of the political image, how it engenders trust and desire and competency. All of these things can only be brought forward if you leave aside the binary gesture of ‘this is bad’ or ‘this is good’ and see things as they are.”

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Season announcement

Mystic Pizza's Dallas premiere leads new AT&T PAC Broadway season

Photo courtesy of Lively McCabe Entertainment

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The 2026-2027 Broadway at the Center season at Dallas' AT&T Performing Arts Center will feature a mixture of new and returning shows, including several recent Tony Award-nominated productions.

According to a release, the main season will consist of five musicals: Mystic Pizza: A New Musical, Shucked, Beetlejuice, The Who’s Tommy, and The Wiz. All productions take place at Winspear Opera House in downtown Dallas.

They will be joined by two previously-announced co-productions with Broadway Dallas - The Notebook and Hadestown - as well as TITAS/Dance Unbound co-production, Dance Me - The Music of Leonard Cohen.

First up will be Dance Me - The Music of Leonard Cohen, a creation inspired by the work of famed Montreal-based poet, artist, and songwriter Leonard Cohen, performed by Ballet Jazz Montreal.

The homage to the iconic artist evokes the grand cycles of existence in five seasons, as described in Cohen’s deeply reflective music and poems. There will be performances on September 18 and 19, 2026.

The first theater production will be Mystic Pizza: A New Musical, making its Dallas premiere. It is based on the 1988 rom-com that tells the story of three working-class girls who navigate the complexities of life, love, and family in a small-town pizza joint.

The score features megahits of the '80s and '90s, including songs originally recorded by Melissa Etheridge, Cyndi Lauper, John Cougar Mellencamp, and more. It will run November 20-22, 2026.

After the Broadway Dallas co-production of The Notebook, running January 12-24, 2027, the season picks up again with the return of Shucked, which played at the Music Hall at Fair Park in December 2024.

In the Tony Award-winning comedy, the corn that protects a small community starts to die. The town needs answers. But who will dare to venture beyond the borders of Cob County?

The Broadway hit, running March 19-21, 2027 is about an unlikely hero, an unscrupulous con artist, and a battle for the heart and soil of a small town.

Hadestown will follow shortly thereafter, running March 30-April 4, 2027, before the third Broadway Dallas co-production of the season, Beetlejuice, running April 28-May 2, 2027.

The musical, which previously came to Dallas in early 2024, is based on Tim Burton’s 1988 film and tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager whose whole life changes when she meets a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes.

June 2027 will bring the final two productions of the season, The Who’s Tommy (running June 3-5) and The Wiz (running June 10-13).

The Who's 1969 rock opera is about the young Tommy Walker whose innate knack for pinball catapults him from reticent adolescent to celebrity savior. It features the anthems “I’m Free,” “See Me, Feel Me,” “Sensation,” and “Pinball Wizard.”

The Wiz, which just came to Dallas in September 2025, is a groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz that features soul, gospel, rock, and '70s funk that puts Dorothy’s journey to find her place in a contemporary world.

“This season is designed to welcome both longtime subscribers and new audiences with a lineup that celebrates the full range of Broadway - from high-energy crowd pleasers and reimagined classics to bold contemporary storytelling,” said Warren Tranquada, CEO and President of the AT&T Performing Arts Center, in a statement.

For the first time in their partnership with Broadway Dallas, Broadway at the Center subscribers will enjoy early access and full subscriber benefits for Beetlejuice through May 1.

After May 1, all ticket purchases, customer service questions, and support for Beetlejuice will be handled directly by Broadway Dallas.

The Center offers a flexible subscription package that allows patrons to choose four or five shows from the season lineup, with the option to add or remove shows by contacting the box office directly.

Subscription package prices range from $150-$660, and sales begin on Monday, April 13, 2026. Packages may be purchased by phone at 214-880-0202, or online at attpac.org/broadway.

att performing arts center beetlejuice broadway at the center music mystic pizza performing-arts the wiz theater winspear opera house