PAULA MACARTHUR
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Firmly rooted in the tradition of memento mori, recent paintings zoom in on details supersize them, exaggerating their theatricality. These paintings maintain a quiet awareness of the current political and economic climate and are also joyous celebrations of colour and light. Taking inspiration from objects which resonate with important moments from my own own personal history, the paintings emphasise the metaphorical shadows which are necessary enable us to experience the light and invites us to consider the universal questions about what is most precious in life.

Almost invariably I discover and photograph my subjects in museums; collectors and curators before me have deemed these objects to be significant and this pre-selection loads history, value and power on top of my own personal associations. The Jewel series of paintings began as a personal celebration of love and a reflection on the fragility of the ideals we yearn for; these ideas quickly evolved to encompass universal desires and darker, sometimes deadly obsessions. The Rococo series developed out of these concerns and have more recently included sculptural drapery and plant forms.

Throughout my career as a painter I have worked with ‘secret’ geometry in painting. Facets of the precious stones, the stylised curves of the rococo ornamentation, the curves of folds and plant structures conform to these mathematical formulae. These underlying patterns give an innate harmony, rhythm and a grounding connection back to Renaissance ideas of universal interconnectedness.

Zooming in on small details I then edit, enlarge and edit again throughout the painting process. An arabesque detail becomes a large, surging growth which is recognisable but unnameable. We can see however, that it is something temptingly shiny and expensive - or pretending to be - something rather ostentatious to the point of becoming vulgar perhaps. The faceted jewels are similarly balanced between figuration and abstraction and allow room for imagined pareidolia. Exquisite details are described in dissolving paint; these flamboyant, sensual swirls become monstrously flashy but are also celebratory monuments to conspicuous consumption.

After much consideration, making the first mark is a release; when physically engaging with the paint I switch to a different mode of operation. I approach the painting process with urgent focus, working with wet on wet layers, enjoying the automatic physicality of the gesture and the tactile qualities of the medium. I play with diluted liquid paint pushing it to its limits, working with oily pools beside barely tinted turps washes. Stepping back, I watch each mark seep, bleed, drip or repel its neighbour and entering a more consciously thoughtful, quieter state I consider the painting and ideas again, in quite a different way, deciding where and how to begin again.

From a distance the subject appears cohesive, even photographic, but as the viewer approaches each painting, the paint itself - the brush marks, layers and drips - come into focus, the illusion disappears and the viewer can experience the physicality of the process and is immersed in the expanse of luminous colour. The illusion of beauty and riches becomes just paint; it both defines and denies the subject and these objects of desire decay in front of our eyes.
Paula MacArthur 2019

Education
​
2014 Turps Arts School Correspondence Course
1993 Royal Academy Schools, Post-Graduate Diploma, Fine Art Painting 
1990 Loughborough College of Art and Design, BA Hons, Fine Art Painting

Current and forthcoming exhibitions
Vitalistic Fantasies
The Cello Factory, 2-8 December 2020
A fully illustrated catalogue is available as a free download, click here

Lockdown Interviews online exhibition
curated by Robert Dunt
All the artists in the “Lockdown Interviews” Exhibition were interviewed by ArtTop10 during these unprecedented times.
Click here to view the interview I did with Robert.

Wells Contemporary Art Awards
Find my painting 'Didn't I give you nearly everything' in the 'Still & Moving' virtual viewing room here until 28 February 2021


Solo & two person exhibitions
2018   Verse: Inverse, obverse, converse, reverse, 
The Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery
2017   Resonance & wonder, songs & paintings by Tine Louise Kortermand & Paula MacArthur, Rye Creative Centre Gallery, East Sussex
2014   Infinitely Precious Things, VJB Arts at 60 Threadneedle Street, London downloadable catalogue here and review by Anna McNay here
2010   Amusement, Brighton Media Centre, East Sussex 
2009   Showtime, The Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham St, London
2009   Seaside Special, solo exhibition, The Arts Forum, St Leonards, East Sussex

Selected group exhibitions

2020   Lockdown Interviews online exhibition
2020  Vitalistic Fantasies, The Cello Factory, London
2020   Wells Art Contemporary, online exhibition
2020   Beep Painting Prize, Elysium Gallery, Swansea
2020   Yes/No, an online open studio exhibition by 31 members of the artist led group, Contemporary British Painting, click here
2019   A Hand Stuffed Mattress curated by Karl Bielik, Terrace Gallery, London
2019   Supernature curated by PaintLounge, The Auxiliary Project Space, Middlesbrough  
2019   Mountain Size curated by Gordon Dalton, Pineapple Black, Middlesbrough
2019   Indoor Voices curated by Graham Crowley, Greystone Industries,Wickham Market, Suffolk
2019   Made in Britain, National Museum, Gdańsk, Poland
2019   Contemporary British Painting, The Hostry, Norwich
2019   Im/material bodies, Sluice HQ touring to Rye Creative Centre
2018   New Painting, The Crypt, St Marylebone Parish Church, London
2018   PaintLounge Berlin, Kühlhaus, Berlin
2018   Subsumed, curated by Fiona Long, The Crypt, St Marylebone Parish Church, London
2018   In the Future, curated by Rosalind Davis, Collyer Bristow Gallery Click here for the press release.
2018   Beep Painting Prize, Swansea College of Art
2018   Superstition, Project Space Wapping, London
2018   PaintNorth, Lady Beck Project Space, Leeds
2018  
Devonshire Collective, Eastbourne, five Sussex artists: Izabela Brudkiewicz, Nikki Davidson Bowman, Jane King, Paua MacArthur & April Yasamee
2018   Testcard P, The Crypt, St Marylebone Parish Church, London, NW1 5LT
2017   Contemporary Masters from Britain, 80 works selected from the Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting
           The Yantai Art Museum, Jiangsu Arts and Crafts Museum, Jiangsu Art Museum, and Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Museum
           Buy Exhibition Catalogue Here
2017   Summer Salon, Lubomirov Angus-Hughes, London
2017   Contemporary Masters from Britain, The Yantai Art Museum , Yantai, China
2017   Highly Inflammable, The Crypt, St Mary in the Castle, Hastings
2017   On the other side, recent works by New Road Artists, Rye Art Gallery
2017   Contemporary British Painting Summer Exhibition, Art Bermondsey Project Space
​2017   Contemporary Masters from the East of England: 35 Painters from the East of England, The Cut, Halesworth, 25 April - 27 May
2017   30x30x34, Contemporary British Painting Winter Exhibition, The Crypt, St Marylebone Church, London
2016   Slippery & Amorphous NYC, Sluice Exchange Rates International Exposition, ArtHelix, Brooklyn, NYC, downloadable catalogue here
2016   Contemporary British Painting Summer Exhibition, Quay Arts, Ryde, Isle of Wight download catalogue here
2016   Slippery & Amorphous The Crypt, St Marylebone Parish Church, London download catalogue
2016  Correspond, The Artworks, 1830 Building, Shaw Lane, Halifax read the accompanying essay by Phil King
           touring to Rye Creative Centre, East Sussex and  Interview Room 11, Edinburgh 
2016   This Year's Model, Studio 1.1, Shoreditch, London
2015   Right Here, Right Now, Rye Studio,East Sussex, Hermione Allsopp, Andrzej Jackowski, Chantal Joffe, Paula MacArthur, Dave McKean, Dom Theobald
2015   Undead Painters, ASC Gallery, New Cross Gate, London, curated by Alastair Gordon and James Petrucci
2015   Adam Fenton’s Painting Club, No Format Gallery, Woolwich
2015   Creekside Open, APT Gallery, London, selected by Richard Deacon
2015   Disturbance, Atom Gallery, Stroud Green Road, London
2015   Cold on the outside, Willowbank Crescent, Glasgow
2014   Red Xmas Studio 1.1 gallery, 57a Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, London
2014   Q14 APT Gallery, Harold Wharf, 6 Creekside, Deptford, London
2014   OVERHE(a)R(e), Aplomb Gallery, Chicago, USA
2014   Le Voci Ritrovate, Castello di Monti, Corigliano d’Otranto, Italy
2014   Zeitgeist Open ZAP, ASC Studios, London, selected by Rosalind Davies, Annabel Tilley, Andrew Bick & Juan Bolivar download the catalogue here
2014   Correspond, Turps Art School, Taplow, London, curated by Marcus Harvey, Graham Carrick & Paula MacArthur read the review by Charley Peters
2014   Off the Wall, The 9th Terrace Annual Open, London
2014   Zeitgeist Summer Exhibition, Zeitgeist Arts Projects, London
2014   20 Painters, Phoenix Brighton 10-14 Waterloo Place, Brighton download Painters' Painters essay by Maria Bonner
2014   Crash Open Salon, Charlie Dutton Gallery, 1a Princeton Street, London, selected by Phillip Allen and Neil Tait
2013   Christmas BOGOF, WW Gallery, 34/35 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8DX
2013   Lion and Lamb Gallery at Sluice Art Fair, Bermondsey, London
2013   The Open West, Cheltenham Art Gallery
2013   The Femail Project, The Article Gallery, Birmingham City University
2013   Navigate, Bexhill Art Trail supported by the De La Warr Pavillion, The Old Cinema, Bexhill
2013   The Open West, Newark Park Gloucestershire, review by Sunny Cheung
2013   Covert and Obscured, Frances Bardsley Gallery, Romford
2013   Tasty Modern, Schwartz Gallery, London watch the exhibition video here
2012   Seeing in the Dark, The Fletcher Centre, Rye, East Sussex
2012   Minutiae, The Stone Space, London
2012   ALAS Autumn Residency Exhibition, Matt Roberts Arts, Vyner Street, London
2012   The Perfect Nude, touring to Wimbledon Space, Exeter Phoenix Gallery & Charlie Smith London, curated by Philip Allen and Dan Coombs
2011   What the Folk Say, 26 March - December 2011, Compton Verney, Warwickshire
2010   A Thousand Words; an installation for Art in Romney Marsh, St. Nicholas’  Church
2010   London Festival Fringe Art Award, Covent Garden
2005   Ahoy Kunst Event, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1994   Four Self Portrait Artists, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1993   Prize winner, John Moores 18, Walker Art gallery, Liverpool
1993   Royal Academy Post-Graduates, Grassimuseum, Leipzig, Germany
1991-3 Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, London
1989   Young Contemporaries, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
1989   First Prize Winner, John Player Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery

Residencies and collaborations
2018   Project based residency, Griffin Gallery, London
2017   Trelex Residency, Switzerland
2014   Le Voci Ritrovate, Castello di Monti, Castigliano d’Otranto, Italy supported by De La Warr Pavillion & Hastings Council
2014   Turps Art School Correspondents' Resisdency, Atelier Austmarka, Norway
2014   Brilliant Cut, Shift Dance Company & Paula MacArthur, performed at The Sinden Theatre, Tenterden & The Congress Theatre, Eastbourne
2012   ALAS Residency Matt Robert’s Arts, 25b Vyner Street, London
1994   Four Self Portrait Artists Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Curated exhibitions
2019  The Contemporary British Painting Prize, Menier Gallery, London
2019   Sara Dare Paintings, Rye Creative Centre, Rye East Sussex
2018   New Painting, The Crypt, St Marylebone Parish Church, London
2018   PaintLounge Berlin, Kühlhaus, Berlin 
2017   PaintLounge London, Sluice Expo, London
2016   Slippery & Amorphous, Art Helix Brooklyn
2016   NAVIGATE: Re-envisioning Landscape, Ian Brown, Gary Mckay, Steph Rubin  – contemporary approaches to describing the earth’s landscape
2016   We work in the dark, we do what we can, we give what we have - explorations of boundaries, restraint & liberation
           Alice Anderson, Phil Illingworth, Evy Jokhova
2015   Disturbance, Atom Gallery,  London
2014   Le Voci Ritrovate, Castello di Monti, Corigliano d’Otranto, Italy supported by Hastings Council & the De La Warr Pavilion
2014   Correspond, Turps Art School, Taplow, London co-curated with Graham Carrick and Marcus Harvey
2012   Seeing in the Dark, The Fletcher Centre, Rye, East Sussex

Publications
Made in Britain, National Museum, Gdańsk, Poland, exhibition catalogue
​Contemporary Masters of Britain, view exhibition catalogue here
​Slippery & Amorphous NYC, view exhibition catalogue here
​Slippery & Amorphous London, view exhibition catalogue here
Correspond 2016 catalogue
Contemporary Brtish Painting Summer Exhibition 2016, ISBN 9-781534-87-123 downloadable exhibition catalogue here
I don’t like art, selected essays by Graham Crowley, 2015, view Graham Crowley's Still Light essay online
Infinitely Precious Things view the exhibition catalogue online
Correspond exhibition catalogue, 2014, ISBN 978-0-9544296-5-2
Zeitgeist Open 2014, view the exhibition catalogue online
The Open West 2013, exhibition catalogue
Pushing Print Festival 2012 exhibition catalogue
What the Folk Say exhibition catalogue, Compton Verney
The Importance of Sequences, Clinical Chemist, Marek H Dominiczak
Self, compiled by Craig Kerrecoe ISBN 978-1-907437-00-7
John Moores Liverpool Exhibition 18, National Merseyside Galleries and Museum, ISBN 0-906367-66-2
Royal Academy Schools student exhibition, introduction by Norman Rosenthal
Painting Today, Bonhams, foreward by Nicholas Usherwood
Ten years of the John Player Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery

Artist lectures and discussions
Paint Hard symposium, The Northern School of Art, November 2019
University of Leeds​, November 2019
In conversation with Anna McNay at Resonance & wonder, Rye Creative Centre, 3 June 2017 listen to the conversation here
Guest speaker at De La Warr Pavilion Artists Critique Group May 2017
Norwich University for the Arts
De La Warr Pavilion, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill
Jerwood Gallery, Hastings
Glasgow Artist Guild, with Marvin Gaye Chetwynd for the Glasgow Open House Festival
Disturbance, curator and artist discussion for International Womens’ Day 2014
Seeing in the dark, curators talk, The Fletcher Centre, Rye
Ivon Hitchens in context, curator’s talk, Rye Art Gallery, East Sussex
Correspond, artists’ discussion, Turps Art School, London
John Moores Painting Biennial, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 

Awards
London Festival Fringe Art Award, second place 
Prize winner, John Moores 18, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Royal Academy Schools Prize for painting 
First Prize Winner, John Player Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery

Selected Collections
​Jiangsu Museum of Art - China
Goodnestone Park, Kent
Priseman Seabrook Collection 
Chadwicks, UEA Campus, Norwich
National Portrait Gallery, London 
Baron and Baroness von Oppenheim 
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors 
Loughborough Grammar School 
Ted Baker London
Double Tree Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London

For further information and sales please get in touch; paulamacarthur@me.com

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  • Crystal series
  • Rococo series
  • Garment series
  • Jewel series
  • Catalogues
  • Contact