Dear Shaded Viewers,
I met the Canadian artist Paul P years ago in Paris. The exhibition at Maureen Paley that opens on March 19 th is his second solor exhibition at the gallery.
"The exhibition title refers to the artist Rex Whistler, whose work as a painter and muralist was cut short by his early death during the last days of WWII. The artistic lives that made up his milieu, The Bright Young Things, suffered from an extreme anxiety leading up to the catastrophe of war, a form of both depression and resistance that can only be fully understood in hindsight. This effete group of young prodigies, artists and poets performed as decadents wielding their high-profile frivolity in proto-punk acts of insolence towards the older generation (whose attitudes of chauvinism and philistinism they held responsible for the horrors of the First World War). From this stance they were able to create a sincere position of dedication to the pursuit of beauty and a spirit of civilization stemming from a platonic ideal. However, their dandyism (which thrived on fragility) was doomed to defeat as a part of this enterprise. Their ideals were challenged by the long shadow of a war which appeared to them as a magnification and fierce embodiment of the hostile forces they had actively resisted in contemporary life. The Romantic, Byronic accomplishment in their art finds parallels with other cultural crescendos such as the triad of physical/political/spiritual fervor which defined gay-liberation just before the devastation of AIDS or of the then radical art-for-art-sake moment of Whistler, Wilde and Godwin as it occurred on the seismic cusp of the new century.
There is a small etched-glass monument made to honour Rex Whistler by his brother Laurence Whistler housed in Salisbury Cathedral called The Rex Prism. Beyond the eulogistic, its 'prismatic effect' influences the many strands that are placed together to form the focus of this exhibition with inspiration from him."
Paul P. 2016
MAUREEN PALEY. 21 Herald Street, London E2 6JT telephone: +44 (0)20 7729 4112
The gallery is open Wednesday – Sunday 11.00 am – 6.00 pm and by appointment.
Office hours: Monday – Friday 10.00 am – 6.00 pm
Paul P.
Untitled (La Jeunesse d'Aristote, feet)
©Paul P., courtesy Maureen Paley, London
Paul P.
Untitled (La Jeunesse d'Aristote, hand with sphere)
©Paul P., courtesy Maureen Paley, London
Paul P.
Untitled
©Paul P., courtesy Maureen Paley, London
Paul P.
Untitled
©Paul P., courtesy Maureen Paley, London
Paul P.
Untitled
©Paul P., courtesy Maureen Paley, London
All images: ©Paul P., courtesy Maureen Paley, London
