Paul Elwick's photostream  

I'am a painter.
Born in Exeter and raised and educated in South Devon.
I went to Plymouth College of Art & Design.

I worked for years as a freelance artist. This gave me a lot of spare time to paint and do projects and run around being arty. It was so much fun

I finally decided it was time to move on and travelled to London with a gingham handkerchief full of artists materials tied to a stick over my shoulder . I miss the easily available solitude and silence one can find in Devon, but I' am enjoying living in the metropolis very much.

I think my paintings to me have little do with real life ; they are fantasy and escapism. They are my joy and my way of expressing the inexpressible. Or describing the indescribable.


I have shown my work in various places around London over the years and received really positive responses to my work from people.
My favourite of my exhibitions was at the nightclub Heaven under Charing Cross station.
I also took part in 2005 in the Channel 5 TV show "Big Art Challenge"...I'm not sure who the winner was but I know Brian Sewell is not a fan of my work!

So be it.
Here is my work. I love the mystery surrounding a work of art but I have endeavoured to attach stories to each painting to explain what they might mean and how they came about for those who want to know.
Talking about my work is a struggle.
Language can be a prison and if I had something to SAY I would 've become a writer or a poet.


Exhibitions: 1986-present:
Words & Co. bookshop, Devon
Tabard Guild exhibition, Tor Abbey, Devon
Queen Mary & Westfield College, Gallery 273, London
Birdwood House, Devon
Time Bar, Greenwich, London
North Pole restaurant, Greenwich, London
A&C Gallery, London
First Out Cafe, London
Heaven nightclub, London
London Friend
Rose Theatre
Am Gallery "Colour Makes You Happy", East Dulwich.

ALL THE WORK IS FOR SALE.
PRICES NEGOTIABLE.
I'am also available for commissions, please do contact me via Flickr.

I'm not too hot at artbabble and my influences are mainly musical, cinematic or literate as you can see below!

There are artists who I admire, although i would'nt necessarily say they INFLUENCED my work:
Quentin Blake,Henry Darger, H.R. Giger, Madge Gill, Julian House, Charles Keeping, Paul Klee, Gustav Klimt, Tamara de Lempicka, Andrew Logan, Peter Luedecke-Welch, Paul Nash, Jan Pienkowski, Simeon Solomon, Graham Sutherland, Louis Wain, Holly Warburton, David Weidman, Patrick Woodroffe....

Music is probably the biggest influence on my work and is so important to me. So here goes, I cannot live without:

The Advisory Circle / Antony & The Johnsons / Belbury Poly / Boards of Canada / Brian Eno / Christian Fennesz / Coil /Current 93 / David Sylvian / Dead Can Dance / Diamanda Galas /Donna Summer / Erotic Disco Cream / The Focus Group / Goblin / Harold Budd / Joni Mitchell / Kate Bush / Klaus Schulze/ Marc Almond /Moon Wiring Club / Nick Drake / Nico / Nina Simone / Nurse With Wound / Philip Glass / Popol Vuh / Shirley Collins / Soft Machine /Stars Of The Lid/ Stereolab / Sun Ra / Tangerine Dream /Throbbing Gristle / Tiny Tim / Terry Riley / Ulrich Schnauss / Zombi / Eric Zann...

Movies & Directors : Ingmar Bergman, Lucio Fulci, Werner Herzog, Stanley Kubrick, Mike Leigh, David Lynch, Roman Polanski, Philip Ridley, Nicholas Roeg, George Romero, Lars von Trier, John Waters...
A L'interieur, Alien, Andy Warhol's Trash , La Belle et La Bete, Blair Witch Project, Das Cabinet Des Dr Caligari, Carnival Of Souls , Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Company Of Wolves, Daughters Of Darkness, Deep End, The Devils , Les Diaboliques, Entertaining Mr Sloane, The Exorcist, Eyes Of Laura Mars, The Haunting, Honeymoon Killers, The Hunger, Inferno, Jubilee, Ju-On:The Grudge, Living Dead At Manchester Morgue, Love Is The Devil, Naked Civil Servant , Nosferatu, Outrageous! , Pink Flamingos, Possession, (Safe), Simon, King Of The Witches, Suspiria, Texas Chainsaw Massacre , Wicker Man...

Favourite writers and books:
Joan Aiken, Paul Auster, Beryl Bainbridge, J.G. Ballard, Clive Barker, Alan Bennett, William S. Burroughs,
Angela Carter, Quentin Crisp, E.M. Forster, John Fowles,
Alan Garner, Tom Hodgkinson, M.R. James, Stephen King
Thomas Ligotti, Arthur Machen, Ian McEwan, Ruth Manning-Saunders, Iris Murdoch, Dorothy Parker, Mervyn Peake
Patrick Susskind...
"House Of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewsky,
"The Owl's Folly" by Melchior Weyrie
"A Rebours" by J.K. Huysmans,
"The Glamour" by Christopher Priest....