Colorado Springs painter Phil Lear tells more than 1,000 words in each intricate, immersive painting

By Kristian DePue

Everyone has a story to tell. Colorado Springs artist Phil Lear has many stories to tell, and they don’t require a thousand words.

Lear’s oil paintings are hanging in various venues, including Shame & Regret, Cork & Cask and Bonny & Read. The underground nightlife space The Rabbit Hole also features his work. The eclectic downtown restaurant has a subway-style entrance into what was once the city morgue.

Rabbit Hole owner Joe Campana commissioned Lear to produce paintings based on and inspired by “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll. In Carroll’s 1865 novel, a youngster falls in a rabbit hole and she explores a world of fantasy involving creatures of all kinds. Lear took the concept and ran with it, much to Compana’s delight.

Lear also finds inspiration in the splendor of everyday life, and his work is always couched in a narrative; yes, there’s always a story behind his paintings.

He started exploring his artistic inclinations at a young age. He was born in the Great White North in 1975 before his family moved to rural Pennsylvania 15 years later.

“My parents used to get me these books,” he explains. “They were blank pages where the top half gave you space to draw and the bottom half had lines for you to write a little story with it. I always thought that triggered something within me … to where I am now, as far as painting with a narrative in mind. There is always something that I am inventing in my head about these characters. There’s always been a story to go with all the artwork I’ve done.”

Lear’s dad worked at a slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania.

“I remember he used to take me to the plant when they were delivering the pigs,” he says. “It was both terrifying and intriguing to watch these pigs herded and moved by cattle prods on a death march. The squealing and the sweaty, foggy smell — I’ve never forgotten it.”

He eventually earned a commercial art degree from a conservative, ministerial Christian college in Pensacola, Florida.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but it was definitely strict,” Lear says. “Guys and girls had different staircases.”

The quality education would pay off later.

“They had a good, classically based art program and the art classes were pretty terrific,” he says. “And when I moved into working with oil paints, I fell in love. I just loved it.”

After college, Lear chose to do an internship in Switzerland because of a guest speaker that he found mesmerizing.

“His arms just seemed to reach out from the pulpit across the room to you in your seat,” Lear says.

With help from an art student friend, Lear eventually landed a job with a religiously affiliated publishing company in the Pikes Peak region. However, the position ended abruptly when Lear was dating someone with a severe drug addiction who was killed. Although he had no connection to the death, his employer fired him.

“Admittedly, I wasn’t an exemplary employee either. I was late all the time,” he says.

His firing quickly led to losing his home and living in a car. Eventually, he was invited to live in the Cottonwood Center for the Arts, a nonprofit organization in Colorado Springs. He was creating art, but often eating ketchup packets and a donut each day to survive. Lear had become a true starving artist.

“I remember making it a whole week on $2.35. You have to train your stomach, and you never eat before bed. Being that poor is very draining. It wears you out but part of me enjoyed being a vagabond.”

Despite the struggle, he kept experiencing moments that reminded him that things would work out if he kept moving forward.

Things did take a turn for the better after some of his shows and exhibits caught the attention of the Colorado Springs community.

“(Artist) Brett Andrus introduced me to Phil Lear,” says Campana, the restaurateur. “I had my own ideas for what I wanted from Phil, artistically, and he did a few pieces which surpassed my imagination. I tell him what I’m looking for and he always creates something far better.”

Andrus, a gallery owner, also offers high praise for his comrade.

“I have been painting with Phil and exhibiting his work for 14 years,” Andrus says. “He is one of my favorite painters on the Front Range. Phil is an artist that was born 130 years ago. He fell into a wormhole and was blasted into the future. His work is timeless, well painted, clever and with dark humor. He truly makes a great painting “

Both Lear and Andrus have their work displayed at Campana’s cocktail bar, Shame & Regret, in addition to the other bars Campana owns.

Lear also stays busy teaching and applying his art in the libations industry.

He teaches oil painting classes called Dare to Paint! at his former residency — or residence, Cottonwood Center for the Arts.

“Phil possesses the rare combination of mega talent and the ability to meet students where they’re at,” says Annie Pieper, director of education at Cottonwood. “He’s very ‘Canadian’ about it. Soft-spoken and polite, a little quirky, but also earnest. You could take his class five times in a row and come out with a new way to fine tune your skills every session.”

You can also see Lear’s work on the labels of various wines offered by Ladrón Cellars in Englewood. They use grapes from vineyards in California’s Central Coast and Western Colorado. They “smuggle” the grapes to the Englewood location, hence the Spanish word for thief, Ladrón.

“We’ve been working with Phil Lear since 2017 and are constantly amazed by his creativity,” says Richard Crockett, owner and winemaker. “He consistently produces incredible artwork for our wine labels. We receive compliments constantly about the artwork.”

With his own narrative having gone from such a dramatic low to being busy with creative commissions, exhibits and teaching classes, we asked Lear how he expects his next chapter to unfold.

“I’ve got a pretty good foothold in town here, but the face of the area is changing,” Lear says. “I’ve been teaching for a year and a half, and that’s been very fulfilling. I enjoy finding fun ways to continue that. Projects and inspirations, for me, they’ve always come like a knock on the door. I’m intrigued to see where Colorado Springs is going, and what that will bring to my door. I wish I had some sort of future feat to allude to, but I’m just keeping my mind and brushes busy for the moment.”

Check out more of Lear’s work at phillear.com.

Born and raised in rural Indiana, Kristian DePue works as a contributing writer in Colorado Springs. In addition to writing, he enjoys travel, watching films, and a good cocktail.

“Temptation” — at Shame & Regret. “The owners were looking to give the place the feeling of a confessional, so angels, saints, devils and nuns were my cast and crew.” - Phil Lear

“The Poet, the Priest and the Politician” — displayed at Shame & Regret, a cocktail bar in downtown Colorado Springs. “I took the name from a Shame & Regret cocktail. I like to include Easter eggs in some paintings, and there are a few tucked away in this one: references to Woody Guthrie lyrics around the politician, the Holy Grail in the poet’s hand, and behind her you can see the ghost of her muse.” - Phil Lear

“Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum” — at The Rabbit Hole, a subterranean restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs. “In trying to put a twist on some Alice in Wonderland characters I’ve depicted throughout the restaurant, I thought of modernizing these two as a couple of backwoods, Depression-era dustbowl twins. The croquet mallet in Tweedle Dee’s hand might have played a part in his brother’s toothache. I was a little leery of painting a kid picking his nose to go up above a dining table, but I get a lot of compliments about it.” - Phil Lear