Member since Friday 16th Mar, 2018
I am Manchester born artist, transplanted to Lyon, France for wonderfully romantic reasons. My work whether in paint, pencil or photo montage has always been about the twinning of idea and visual. An idea alone is an interesting creature, but draws few glances from passers by, equally a visual that captures a gaze quickly loses the owner’s interest when the surface of the paint is scratched, revealing only blank canvas beneath. The hunt to mix these two concepts together and produce the perfect animal is one of the reasons I continue to work.
Themes in my artwork range from outbursts of outrage due to (take your pick) arms sales, obliteration of the seabed, police violence, mental health and general greed. I like to grotesquely portray these subjects with some juvenile humour mixed in to take the edge off. Colour has been a constant love, something that will become evident on even the loosest inspection of my past work.
I spend my time in-between commissions and self driven work, grinding away in a small studio (second bedroom/lounge) in my small apartment in the centre of Lyon.
'What projects are you working on at the moment?' You ask with the sparkle of anticipation in your art-hungry eyes.
An exhibition 'Poste-Mortem' is something I'm working towards completing this year. Based on my own fascination with death and some lovely compositional choices inspired by the humble postage stamp 'P-M' will be a collection of illustrations, paintings and sculptures exhibited in Lyon, France. For a little peek at what I've been working on have a peruse of my instagram @paulwardart.
Secondly 'Birds As You've Never Seen Them' is a book stuffed with avian artworks that I'm slowly chugging my way through. The large format book will focus on the majesty of our bipedal mates in all of their splendour whilst hopefully 'beaking' the curiosity of new nature lovers. The more of us that adore the natural world, the more likely we are to preserve it.
