Paul Newman

A portfolio of imaginary characters and situations is generated through an ongoing series of drawing, painting and performance based installation.

The characters themselves are hybrid creations influenced by dark fairy tales, classic horror and monster figures such as “The Fly”, as well as the outlandish creations in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and their contrary trappings within Lewis Carroll’s text and its illustrations.

The specific awkwardness of the painting is reinforced through the discordant clashing in the range of surface marks. Yet if the relationship between material and image could in fact be considered a degree arbitrary, there is also an integral connection here with the contrary nature of the work itself.

The particular mannerism of the painting is also reflected through the development of the body of work through character performance and installation.

Though perhaps stylistically different to the painting, these works and their re presentation as photographic documentation carry the same tone and poise.

The paintings, performances and photographic works explore both similarities and differences in a portrayal of a multiple characters, which could also be identified as a portrait of one.

Traveling in the Socorro deserts of New Mexico, an unidentified flying object drifts in to view. “Who’s there?” As this is a holiday destination especially favoured by visitors from other planets, the question seems relevant. However, it turns out that the visitor has only traveled a few thousand miles from the UK, rather than the light years others make to this particular location. But like the scientists and specialists of the extra terrestrial, this visitor is also in the desert to undertake research, to explore other dimensions of the various fictional characters that populate his work.