Richard Phillips' paintings are now selling for thousands of dollars
Detroit — When you hear him talk, you’d think Detroit artist Richard Phillips is some kind of highly trained master. But at 72, he held his first exhibit.
He is America’s most unlikely art phenom.
“I’m just a young kid from the ghetto that’s been through hell and high water and still here,” Richard said.
Richard was incarcerated before becoming celebrated. In 1971, he was arrested for murder — a murder we now know he didn’t commit. To pass the time and temper the injustice, he painted.
“It was something to do, occupy my mind,” Richard said. “I could get off into one of my paintings and just be in there for hours and hours and hours.”
That’s how it was for 46 years until he was exonerated last March.
