PAUL STONE: STILL LIFE MAY 2010
It was while completing studies in art history during the mid-1990’s that Paul Stone realised he had the aptitude and ambition to be a painter, having been inspired by many of the artists he was studying at the time. Over the next ten years he continued to paint, appearing in many group shows, but always managing to hold down other employment to fund his painting. However, it was his move to Sheffield in 2003 that was to prove the catalyst for an exciting and developing art practice. Since 2008 Paul has focused full time as a professional artist, exhibiting around the country, gathering awards and
commissions along the way. Paul paints in oils in style of classical realism, with an accomplished use of light and shade to create a sense of texture and atmosphere to his work. Aside from drawings and portraits, he specialises in traditional still life compositions, albeit with a fresh contemporary twist. The plain backgrounds only serve to heighten the focus on the objects, seeking the viewer to reappraise the everyday and the familiar. Composition is a core consideration in the work, with Paul seeking a balance and harmony that recall 17th Century Dutch still life artists, and more recent personal favourites such as William Nicholson.
“Once considered undignified for serious artistic endeavour, still life has a rich history, its repertoire altering as the genre has evolved. Recently I came across the word Rhopography, and old-fashioned term for still life paintings, meaning the study of trivial objects and small wares. I can appreciate this in reference to my work, particularly reflecting the alterations in art, on the meanings of objects within the last century.
Originally my work had a very traditional, almost simplistic approach to the process of creating artworks. As the paintings (and thereby my practice as whole) have developed and matured, my previous research in History Of Art has over time organically breathed a fresh perspective into the artworks.
At the core of my paintings is the search for a precision of focus on the formal properties of mundane objects that have an everyday, unremarkable presence in our lives. As the majority of the inanimate objects are gathered from local charity shops, they also record a previous unknown transience moment when they are suddenly cast out for whatever reason. This results in a familiar and nostalgic content, and for me a more intimate relationship with their representation.
My studio is now littered with hundreds of these objects, all vying for attention within a composition often created by chance: a small shift to the side, a slight change in light, and suddenly a discarded low object has newly discovered strengths.
Other items first come from their practical usage, then an interest in how I can best represent them in the context of the painting. For example the white cloth I often use was originally simply a way of covering various painting surfaces, and to lend some contrast to the placed objects. When I began depicting the cloth in paint, I became fascinated in the way light and shadow played on the fold and ceases: gradually the cloth became another subject within the composition. With the larger paintings there is a closer focus on food, particularly in the intricate patterns that appear, and the almost unlimited variations of shape, tone and colour. There is also more of a challenge in creating these works, which are often the most time consuming, and a greater satisfaction when completed.
While the work displays a high sense of realism, particularly in reproduction, it is important to me that the works are still essentially a personal interpretation of form and composition, and therefore not lose that sense of being a painting. The excitement of being an artist for me lies both in the process of physically using paint to transform, and a sense of achievement in completing the work”
Paul Stone 2010
