Costa Rica Painting

Current / Recent Shows: 'FACE' - Gallery Different, 14 Percy St, Fitzrovia, London W1 27 Sep - 2 Nov, 2013 STRARTA - The Saatchi Gallery, Kings Rd, Chelsea, SW3 10 - 13 Oct, 2013 View for images of both. ___ Paul splits his time between painting and design consultancy on brand creation projects. Each informs the other. Paul has developed his own painting style - consciously not referencing other artists - and although his work arguably makes a superficial nod towards Lichtenstein this is entirely co-incidental. In fact, his heroes are Basquiat, Schnabel and Katherine Bernhardt - the New York school one could say. Indeed it was seeing Bernhardt's large canvasses of wet-on-wet, drippy painted, fashion models with attitude that inspired him to take up the brush. In fact he would say that if he has been influenced at all then the scale of Schnabel and the viscerality of Basquiat and Bernhardt are his main references. Living and working from a large, airy loft space in Royal Leamington Spa about an hour by train from Central London Paul splits his time between the studio, meeting and greeting in the capital and... (lots of) cafes. With The Cotswolds on his doorstep, not to mention Warwick, Stratford upon Avon and Oxford he is never short of visual stimulation and the opportunity for "vista-ring" sessions. His canvasses are mostly all acrylic on plastic feel canvass and painted on a large scale - 1.5m sq being his format of choice. This ensures impact even when they are shown singularly. That said, and again drawing directly on his identity system background, Paul normally envisions his painting as series. Many are painted in series of three, four or more. This not only ensures that the subject is contextualised and allowed to breathe, it achieves significant visual impact. Indeed, his brand identity background is manifest throughout his work. It influences every aspect - from core visual references of black keylines, solid flat vibrant colour plus the strategic use of cropping and white space. As with all identities this will undoubtedly morph and develop over time. "I do what I do. I was put on this earth to create stunning visual pieces and I'm lucky that people buy them. But even if they didn't I'd still be doing it." All work is Copyright Paul Thwaites 2013.