All about Phileas

Phileas is a small travelling painting and he wants to make a journey around the world, full circle, in 365 days.

Phileas is a character inspired by Phileas Fogg, from Jules Verne’s Around the world in 80 days and he started his journey in Lichtervelde, West-Flanders, Belgium on march 23rd, 2010. The aim was to send him on his way on the 21st, the first day of spring, but he was a bit premature then. Anyway, I, the painter, would like to see him travel around the world, full circle, in one year. So if he’s back home by march 23rd 2011, I will send a gift to everyone who helped him complete his journey!

How does it work? If you received the painting from someone you know, you can enjoy it, a few days, but not too long, it’s a big journey after all! Show Phileas around in your home or workplace. The object is to have a picture from every stop where Phileas hangs out for those days. This site is where all the pictures come online. I also post in what town, city or country Phileas is hanging out, and a map to track the progress.

Then it’s time to send him further on his way. Phileas should be given personally to the next temporary owner and not be put in the mail, that’s just too risky. The journey continues: a new person can enjoy the painting, take a pic, update me, and continue around the world the small gift this painting is.

Why am I doing this? It’s fun, an experiment and art, three things I enjoy very much. I also want to share my paintings to the world and this seems like a fantastic experiment. A similar experiment with my travelling paintings is kunstopreis.com (Dutch for Travelling Art). My own website with all my paintings is jazochromatic.com

I hope to hear from you and see lots of pictures of Phileas. Alone, in the scenery, with you and your friends, whatever. Feel free to be creative in this! Feel free to comment on the pictures as well! And thank you for helping Phileas travel around the world. I’m eager to see where he will arrive, who will take care of him and where he will go. Thank you!

Maarten Wydooghe, Lichtervelde, Belgium