PAUL WRIGHT fifteen years
PAUL WRIGHT fifteen years
Chapter 1. Early Career and Portraiture
Triptych – Reflected Light Oil on canvas 6 x 8 inches (each panel) 2009
Double Self Portrait Oil on canvas 40 x 44 inches 2008 My Roger Oil on canvas 51 x 39 inches 2015 (left)
15
Chapter 1. Early Career and Portraiture
Wright has also incorporated narratives into his paintings by showing multiple sitters or numerous views of the same person. By doing so relationships between each character emerged, and therefore allowed greater potential for varied interpretations. The triptychs, double portraits and multiple self-portraits are examples of this. Paintings such as Smudge, Self-Portrait (2004) and Silver Fox show the distance covered in the development of a personal language. The male portrayed in Smudge is rendered under a veil of disruptive smear marks, each working across the surface of the face, and beyond into the corners of the painting. Such thorough use and coverage of the canvas is indicative of a challenge the artist has set for himself, to activate the entire surface of the canvas. This contrasts the much earlier work Self Portrait where there is a definitive delineation between sitter and background. Silver Fox is an example of the pivotal period between the two, where the figure and ground begin to dissolve into each other. It is notable for its calculated strokes of paint that interrupt and distort the view of the subject. The progression evident in these three works can be seen to have its culmination in recent works such as Fade Out. These varying outcomes are but a few points in a vast network of experimental approaches that Wright has galvanized into his practice, and reflect an endeavour to test both himself and the limits of the medium.
Smudge Oil on canvas 11 x 10 inches 2012
Silver Fox Oil on board 10 x 8 inches 2009
16
Chapter 1. Early Career and Portraiture
Fade Out Oil on board 30 x 22 inches 2015
17
Chapter 1. Early Career and Portraiture
Self-Portrait Oil on canvas 47 x 39 inches 2015
With Wright’s continual development came critical success. His first major breakthrough was the inclusion of his painting Ian in the 2006 BP Portrait Award held at the National Portrait Gallery. The next time he was shortlisted for this prestigious award was in 2014 with his painting of the poet Simon Armitage CBE. Wright’s 2015 Self-Portrait is the most recent in a line of self-portraits that have intermittently punctuated his career. Each offers a unique perspective into Wright’s reflection on himself as both a person and an artist. The portraits, self-portraits, and group portraits across his career thus far demonstrate a core tenet of Wright’s practice; it is an ongoing and evolving challenge to visually interpret a variety of relationships, characteristics and expressions through the vast potential of the tactile medium of paint. 18
Chapter x. Title
67
Chapter 6. New Directions
Graduate Monotype 26 x 22 inches 2016
Boy 8 Monotype 20 x 16 inches 2016
Boy 11 Monotype 20 x 16 inches 2016
Ornament Monotype 16 x 12 inches 2016
68