Future
Past
Paul
Housley
Night Painting
February
15 - March 16, 2008
Reception: Friday, Feb. 15th, 6-9 PM
 |
 |
The gallery is pleased to announce the New York solo debut of London-based
artist Paul Housley. The exhibition will feature a series
of intimately scaled oil paintings and watercolors whose subjects are
culled from the artist’s collection of second-hand toys, figurines,
and handmade clay objects.
The artist has sometimes described his work as the “amplification of stillness.” Painting allows him to slow down the process of looking and seeing in order to produce something contemplative and involving. However he has also stated that most of what he considers to be his best work is executed quickly: “You dive in. That is what it feels like. You try to make it all work at once, in one spontaneous moment, like it dropped out of the sky. It should look easy.”
Housley’s work touches on fragments of life, details, simple motifs, still life, found imagery – all distilled and rendered slower by the act of painting. These objects are familiar but through their rendering are elevated into a deflated iconic image. Housley does not set out to paint the mundane but wishes instead to attempt to depict the absurdities of life in the rendering of a simple still life. Although these paintings are devised and executed in the studio at night, they also occupy a psychological space—a place where collective memories and personal histories co-exist.
Paul Housley (b. 1964, Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, U.K.) lives and works in London, U.K. He received a MA from the Royal College of Art, London and a BA from Sheffield City Polytechnic. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Wilkinson Gallery, London; Durham Light Infantry Museum; and Reg Vardy Gallery, Suderland; as well as group exhibitions at The Approach, London; Hotel Gallery, London; and Hales Gallery, London; among others. His work has been discussed in The Guardian and Art Review magazine, among others.
The artist has sometimes described his work as the “amplification of stillness.” Painting allows him to slow down the process of looking and seeing in order to produce something contemplative and involving. However he has also stated that most of what he considers to be his best work is executed quickly: “You dive in. That is what it feels like. You try to make it all work at once, in one spontaneous moment, like it dropped out of the sky. It should look easy.”
Housley’s work touches on fragments of life, details, simple motifs, still life, found imagery – all distilled and rendered slower by the act of painting. These objects are familiar but through their rendering are elevated into a deflated iconic image. Housley does not set out to paint the mundane but wishes instead to attempt to depict the absurdities of life in the rendering of a simple still life. Although these paintings are devised and executed in the studio at night, they also occupy a psychological space—a place where collective memories and personal histories co-exist.
Paul Housley (b. 1964, Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, U.K.) lives and works in London, U.K. He received a MA from the Royal College of Art, London and a BA from Sheffield City Polytechnic. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Wilkinson Gallery, London; Durham Light Infantry Museum; and Reg Vardy Gallery, Suderland; as well as group exhibitions at The Approach, London; Hotel Gallery, London; and Hales Gallery, London; among others. His work has been discussed in The Guardian and Art Review magazine, among others.