Paul P. (born 1977) is a Canadian artist known for his work as a painter, sculptor, collagist and graphic artist exploring identity, gender, art history and landscape. He lives and works in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Career

Paul P. was born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

and grew up in Toronto. He graduated in 2000 with a BFA from York University in Toronto. He began using only initial of his last name while still a student to single him out from other artists.

Work

Paul P's early work which he described as "melancholic""Paul P. and Slimane Share a Silhouette". Toronto Star, 02 Feb. 2006 was drawn from early 80's pre-AIDS era gay pornography, using appropriated photographs from The ArQuives (formerly the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives) in Toronto. The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

described them as "oddly unsensual". Later, he might use photographs taken during his travels, or drawings made by him in the out-of-doors which might become a source for paintings. The nuances of light and atmosphere were primary concerns and his work sometimes has been influenced by figures in art history such as

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

and

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...

. He also has made sculpture as in his installation "Writing Table for Nancy Mitford" at the 2014 Whitney Biennal.

Selected solo exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions include: ''Dusks, Lamplights'', The

Power Plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

, Toronto (2007); ''Slim Volume'', Queer Thoughts, New York (2019); ''Gamboling Green'', Cooper Cole, Toronto (2020); ''Vespertilians'', Maureen Paley, London, England (2022); ''Friendly in the Knife-edged Moment'', Oakville Galleries, Ontario (2022); ''Early Skirmishes'', Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway (2022); and ''Paul P.: Amor et Mors'',

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

(2023), curated by Sonia Del Re, senior curator of Prints and Drawings, of a group of 30 works acquired by the collection in 2020 created by Paul P. between 2003 and 2019, along with about 15 works from the collection.Lynn Saxberg, "A 'Secret Visual Language'". Ottawa Citizen, Feb. 25, 2023

Selected group exhibitions

* Crack the Sky: Biennale de Montréal, Montreal (2007); * ''Compass in Hand'',

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York (2009); * Whitney Biennial,

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, New York (2014); * Front International, Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Cleveland (2018); * ''Houseguest: Shadows Fall Down'',

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

, Los Angeles (2021)

Publications

''Doe Ye Nexte Thynge'', 2013
''Last Flowers'', Invisible Exports/Downtown Arts, 2012, text by Daniel Reich, 2012
''The Radiant Guest'' (Paul P. and Scott Treleaven), Publication Studios, Toronto, 2011
''The Pink Book'', Daniel Reich Gallery, 2010, text by Harold Montague
''Venice, Venice'', Marc Selwyn Fine Art, 2009
''Paul P.- When Ghost Meets Ghost /

Peter Hujar Peter Hujar (; October 11, 1934 – November 26, 1987) was an American photographer best known for his black-and-white portraits. Hujar's work received only marginal public recognition during his lifetime, but he has since been recognized as a m ...

'', Maureen Paley, 2008, text by

Vince Aletti Vince Aletti (born 1945) is a curator, writer, and photography critic. Career Music industry Aletti was a contributing writer for ''Rolling Stone'' from 1970 to 1989. He was the first person to write about disco, on 13 September 1973, in ''Disc ...

''Blue and Silver'', Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, 2007, text by Francois Jonquet
''Nonchaloir'', Powerhouse books, 2007, text by Collier Schorr
''Places Names'', the Place, Daniel Reich Gallery, 2007, text by David Velasco
''The Yellow Room'', Marc Selwyn Fine Art, 2006, text by Vince Aletti
''Grey and Gold'', Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, 2005, text by Michel Bulteau

Collections

* The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky *

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 117,000 work ...

, Princeton * Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Art, Providence *

, New York *

Glenbow Museum The Glenbow Museum is an art and history local museum, regional museum in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The museum focuses on Western Canada, Western Canadian history and culture, including Indigenous perspectives. The Glenbow was establ ...

, Calgary Alberta *

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

, Brooklyn *

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; ) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Dundas Street, Dundas Street West in the Grange Park (neighbourhood), Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, the museum complex takes up of phys ...

, Toronto *

, Ottawa *

, New York *

, Los Angeles

References

External links

Doe Ye Nexte Thynge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul P. 1977 births Artists from Toronto Canadian contemporary painters Canadian installation artists 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 21st-century Canadian painters York University alumni Living people 20th-century Canadian printmakers Canadian gay artists 20th-century Canadian male artists 21st-century Canadian male artists 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people