ARTIST'S STATEMENT

"We are all voyeurs safe in our reality looking through the window of the picture frame, peeping at the artist's world, sometimes wistfully other times aghast but always confidant that these windows to another reality were safely closed.
My paintings appear to impossibly exist in two realities simultaneously. I defy tradition by bringing two dimensions into contact, rather than leaving them safely separate. In my world of "CONTIGUoUS REALiTiES", the world of the artist actually reaches out and touches the world of the viewer. It stirs something primordial when the window "frame" is opened and the images are let loose to invade the space of the viewing audience, threatening to make them participants in the image.
This reality and its perceived security are only a projection of our egos. It is all an illusion just like the perception of a window as a barrier, when it is actually a portal."
"In truth, we are never safe; not even on our own side of the picture frame."

PROFILE

"Art has always been Paul's destiny, born in Tacoma, Washington in 1948 into a family with a rich artistic heritage. His earliest memories are of sketch while sitting on his fathers lap at a drawing board.

He learned to paint portraits, murals and signs at his neighbors art studio where he worked every summer until he turned seventeen and joined the Marine Corps. During his enlistment, he earned his GED and shortly after his discharge entered Jr. College as an art major. Although an honor student, financial obligations forced him to withdraw after only one year.

A quirk of fate then led him into tattooing where he rapidly established himself as a world-class artist specializing in custom designs and freehand work. Tattooing not only allowed him to work daily on his draftsmanship but also the free time to pursue painting. Over almost a decade spent tattooing, he received an ever-increasing number of requests for illustrations, graphic designs, and paintings. By 1979, his freelance career had blossomed to a point that he left tattooing.

In 1980 attracted by Paul's mural and commercial graphic work the owner of Robert Keith & Co. Advertising sought him out and recruited him for the position of Creative Art Director. During the years, he spent heading the department he had the opportunity to personally deal with many of the "Fortune 500" companies, while refining his artistic skills even further.

In 1985, he joined the Sign and Display Artists Union. A life-long social activist, it was quite natural that he was drawn into the labor movement and workers rights. In 1996, he was elected to the position of Business Representative for Local Union 831, Display and Sign Painters and Tradeshow Workers. Although a slight sidetrack from his art career Paul continued to paint.

In 2001, Paul decided to again concentrate on his first love painting and bring it to the public. You can see the results here before you today."