Portrait of Phil Bradfield

Phil Bradfield was a very good friend of mine.

Phillip Edward Bradfield, September 22, 1968–August 24, 2026.

Phil made everyone feel like he was their best friend.

I took the photograph this is based on a few years ago, and I used it to start experimenting with a new technique. The portrait was finished a few months before Phil died, before I knew anything about what was coming. It’s built the way a printing press builds color: four sheets of squares—cyan, magenta, yellow and black—each tilted to its own angle and laid one on top of the other. No single sheet looks much like Phil. Together, they do.

Fun with Phil

If you’d like to take him apart and put him back together, there are three interactive versions in the Playground: Phil, in Four Inks, Phil, Out of Register and Phil, Hand-Colored.