Flagler Beach artist Phil Parker works primarily in mixed media, assemblage, and collage. “These assemblages begin with a vague organizing principle, a mental ground, so to speak,” he writes in his artist statement. “The focus might be about flight or travel or surveying or whatever I'm deeply interested in at the time, things I'm passionate about. The journey begins by collecting all the information, data, imagery, objects that I feel have a direct, discreet, or symbolic association with that idea.” From this point, he constructs his compositions much the way a jazz musician writes music. “I need to explore dozens of options; if I don't, I probably won't hit those one or two that present the right direction the piece will take. That union that you know will work together like the logic found in music. You have to edit yourself ruthlessly to make this happen.”