Paul Barnes
"Trouble in Mind"
December 1-31, 2006
My earliest, most vivid memory as a young child, was the frequent occurrance of my climbing over the high wall at the bottom of my garden & running across the railway tracks to reach the neighbouring park. It was here, I found an escape and refuge from a rather unhappy, and at times, frightening, family life. Surrounded by nature, squirrels, reindeer and the Victorian glass domed Winter Gardens, alive with birds, fish ponds, stone statues and the grotesque heads spewing water in the old fountains. This, combined with my fascination for the gargoyles on the spires of the church down the road , and my obsession with my grandmother’s library of old books about folklore, mythology, magic and the supernatural, I think, sparked my inspiration and desire to draw. My formative years were spent in a more urban environment, where I embraced the sound, attitude and trash aesthetics of punk rock, as a form of expression and release. This contrasting & confusing transgression has formed the basis of my work today. As a reaction to my parents throwing away every piece of art I ever did as a child, I now have a psychological need to challenge myself to somehow produce pictures which will attain an enduring appeal, never be thrown away and forgotten. To re-capture the visions of my memories and dreams, emulating the permanence & feeling of stillness of the statues, gargoyles and engravings in the old books and to reflect the naievity, sensitivity and fragility I had felt as a child, with elements of the anger in my later years. The combination of my memories and painting techniques, along side inspirations in art, from 19th century American folk art, Italian Renaissance & Medieval painting, the Surrealist movement, Outsider Art, to frequent references of modern music and popular culture, have all helped shape my narrative visions, where quite often, past meets present, good meets evil and dreams become reality. |
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11"x8"
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"Black Heart" |
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