Paul P

pencil crayon drawings

Oct 5-26, 2002

Paul P is a Toronto-based artist working primarily in painting and drawing. He graduated with a B.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from York University in 2000. He is currently exhibiting new Pencil Crayon Drawings at Paul Petro Contemporary Art and is included in the exhibition The Dark Side of Happy at Gallery Stratford in Stratford, Ontario. Recently, Paul P. has been shown in group shows at Winnipeg's Othergallery and at Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, California. Paul P. was also co-founder and co-director of Toronto's West Wing Art Space from 2000-2001. He is represented in Toronto by Paul Petro Contemporary Art.

“The work begins with faces culled from gay pornographic sources from the late sixties through to the early eighties and leads to the creation of portraits of mostly minor and forgotten "stars" whose histories and futures are unknown beyond these found images. There is an archivist's drive to record these legions of young men in order to consider the precarious qualities of both the mode'ís age and of these periods in gay history in general.

“Examining these images in retrospect they become imbued with gravity. These faces are chosen for their ability to communicate, within their expressions and physiognomies, ideas of boyishness, lust, fascination and compulsion. From smiley and buoyant to brooding and melancholic to startled and confused, their countenances illustrate a rich spectrum of emotions present during male adolescence, especially when burgeoning masculinity is confronted with the often self-shattering presence of homosexuality. The figures are pictured from the shoulders up and alone, confusing their pornographic origins and dignifying them with the historical conventions of portraiture, and creating an allegiance with one another from picture to picture because of the similar implications which bring them together. Their combined effect resonates with a consideration of the more delicate and volatile potentials of young men in general.”

- Paul P.,
September 2002

Paul P
Untitled, 2002
pencil crayon on paper
8.5 x 6.5 inches