Featured Artist Paul Watson

Artist Paul Watson presents a collection of surreal and magical images from his series on mythical stories, both past and future. See more by visiting his website.

 

 

My artwork uses folkloric and mythic imagery to explore contemporary turbulent social and political themes. It provides hints to imagining progressive alternative futures by stepping outside the “real”.

 

 

I have published two books of my artwork—Myth & Masks and England’s Dark Dreaming. Both can be ordered from my online shop (along with prints and postcards of my artwork). I’m planning a third book next year.

 

 

All of the artwork you can see here is from a large series I am working on called Acid Renaissance: Albion’s True Standard Advanced. I use strange and magical images of a mythic future of England to prompt ideas in the viewer about radically different potential futures for my country.

 

 

I use several media in my artistic practice. Recently I have been mainly concentrating on drawing and photography.

 

 

I see drawing as a primary medium, not just as a preparatory tool or a training exercise, but the finished artwork. I always draw from life, which prevents the figures becoming too similar or stylised.

 

 

I draw in various media, including graphite pencil, sanguine pencil, charcoal, and pastels, depending on the subject matter and the themes I want to explore.

 

 

All masks used in my photographic work are made by myself, and for me this is also part of my artistic practice. I’m very interested in the transformative properties of masks, and the way in which they affect the wearer as well as the viewer.

 

 

I like to use a single off-camera flash to produce chiaroscuro lighting, leaving large areas in shadow. The photographs are taken with a digital SLR. Apart from some minor tweaking of tonal levels and saturation, everything in the image exists in front of the camera lens rather than being digitally added later.

 

 

On my website, in addition to my portfolio and online shop, I have a blog—The Artist’s Notebook. I’ve been posting in it since 2008. I write about my creative process and artistic practice, which also gives a lot more insight into the thoughts and aims behind my artwork.

 

Paul Watson invites you to follow  him on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon and Tumblr.

 

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