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Daniel Paulo - The
Abstract Figure |
Daniel Paulo is a painter based in
the North of England
NEXT EXHIBITION:
The Rainhall Centre, Barnoldswick 7 November to 17 December
2008
Scroll to bottom for links to CV,
Biography, artist's statements etc, below are
links to galleries of work from 1998-2006 and
details of forthcoming exhibitions.
Paintings from 1993 - 1997 can be seen at
The Sunflower Gallery.
Recently launched: CD of music entitled
"12
Angels"
written and performed by Daniel Paulo to complement the
exhibiting of these works. The CD is available from
here.
Samples of music can be heard
here.
Also
now available: ebook by Daniel Paulo entitled
"Being
An Artist: Unlocking Your Creative Potential"
download
here.
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Forthcoming Exhibitions
Work
from the Strange Angels exhibition will tour
cathedrals of the UK
August
2008 - Lincoln Cathedral Chapter House
October 2008 - The
Bingley Gallery
November 2008 -
The Rainhall Centre, Barnoldswick
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Artist's Statement
Art is a
search, a search for something indefinable and
inconstant. Yet the search always remains, there can
never be an end to the questing, for the answers are
always like half-glimpses, like the sighting of an
angel, which can only be seen out of the furthest corner
of the eye, if it is even there at all. And yet,
something tangible does result; these are the paintings,
results of the search, but never the end of it.
There are many things that are timeless and always
relevant, such as the human figure and it's place in the
universe, the human soul and spirit - things invisible
and underneath which put into perspective our ant-like
existence; these things are important.
Go away trivial, humdrum, menial and stale. Come here
bright, profound, substantial and glowing, for your
wings are endless, your possibilities infinite; why
consider anything less?
The works are
mostly painted in acrylic on canvas. Sources include:
mummies, classical and gothic statues, aztec figures, religious imagery,
egyptian figures and architecture,
byzantine art, stained glass.
Influential artists
include Rothko, Van Gogh, Munch and
Friedrich.
Current work is
touring a number of Cathedrals across the UK from 2006-8
including Bradford, Carlisle, Lincoln and York.
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About Daniel
Paulo's work by the Very Rev Keith Jones, Dean of York
Daniel Paulo’s exhibition of angelic
forms in the Chapter House of York Minster was a fascinating
match with its site. The first impression is of figures
against a background; but closer inspection shows that the
angels rather emerge through the background colour and
texture. We do not know (do not need to know) whether they
are appearing or disappearing. In a setting like this,
where light is filtered through so much glass, the sense of
transcendence and richness is revealed over and over again.
You keep looking at them, and they yield more and more.
About Daniel
Paulo's work by Viola Jones, Mrs. Dean of York
As
a member of the Minster Exhibitions Committee I was
delighted to help select Daniel’s work for showing over Lent
and Easter.
As an art historian, I have
appreciated Daniel’s connections with imagery of the past.
There are strong echoes, in the dignity and distance of his
elongated figures, of the great mosaics of Ravenna or Daphni.
At the same time, his jewelled colours, along with his use of broken outlines, give his figures a tantalising sense of
movement, and interplay with light, that is reminiscent of
stained glass, and forms a particularly happy correspondence
with the setting of York Minster.
Daniel has assimilated these and other
influences and made something entirely his own; timeless,
yet shifting, and expressive of our own fragile moment now.
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About Daniel
Paulo's work by David Stone:
Daniel Paulo's abstractions are
bold, confident paintings, built up around themes of
expressive gestures and unidentifiable shapes.
They tend to have a vertical dynamic and presented in a
portrait format; a method that traditionally encourages
us to look for the human subject in amongst the deluge
of amorphous forms. Armed with this insight the
mixture of shapes begins to take on a loose cohesion.
Figures can be deciphered as refracted motifs or
distorted effigies, often seated in an armchair-like
frame, suspended before a background of rough and
oppressive colour.
The real interest in Paulo's
work is the processes he applies to his subject matter.
What starts as an engagement with a figurative form ends
with a subversive palimpsest of forceful weighty colour.
The subject is broken down into component parts, twisted
and inverted beyond recognition, then reconfigured into
obscure creations. These are compelling and
haunting images, with a depth that draws the viewer
through the intense convoluted maze of lines. Yet
through the combination of jutting forms and contrasting
colour, there is a type of staccato rhythm, giving the
painting a feeling of animation, as we shift between
what we see and what we infer.
written for the Atticus
Arts show, Bath, July 2006 ©David Stone |
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Offers
would be considered for many of the paintings
on display within these pages
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Strange
Angels 1
i am hid 
Abstract Figure
2
Abstract Figure1
Swinner Gill
TheIngleborough Series
Amid Greenness