Ollie Phillips is a self-taught artist who comes from a background in digital art and illustration. During the pandemic, in an amalgamation of realism and contemporary oil painting he found himself drawn to working with colored pencil. His current work, which he collects under the title 'Subconscious', is inspired by the invisible connections that are established by social media. The scenes depicted are directly inspired by visuals from Instagram stories. The act of immortalizing an image that someone wants to be viewed only by a select number of people within a limited twenty-four-hour window is both a commentary and a testament of the artist's appreciation for our everyday surroundings. Heavily mixed layers of colored pencil depict the captured moment vibrantly, while the strokes that show the artist's hand create a sense of motion.

Phillips found that creating this work was a way to escape his shut-in setting and to connect with people on a more personal level. The artist continues to add to this series, as he does not cease to be inspired by the moments of intrigue that people share publicly. Ollie Phillips currently lives and works in South London.