Timeline

Paul Insect's refined interpretation of visceral subject matter has thrust him towards fame in the past year, with a noted collector absorbing his entire? ‘Bullion’ exhibition. Equally, Paul’s work has evolved considerably. Victorian graphics have been replaced by Dada-ist collages fusing adolescence, aggression, and rough-around-more-than-just-the-edges pornography. These motifs are tempered by a joyous use of colour and an ambitious style. Equally, the images are provoking and provocative: dripping as much with sensitivity and gravitas as they are with sex and death. Moreover, they are a window onto the mind of the frustrated modern male: boiling over with unkempt aggression and sexuality, but yearning somehow for a higher moral purpose than the gradual accumulation of acceptance. Clowns crack and go on the rampage; kids in cowboy outfits contemplate the worth of their peers; and babies are contented to consider the consequences of the quantum age.

Paul Insect's sharp-edged images combine all the absurdism of Dada with the sleekness of modernism, yielding surreal renderings that point playfully at the deep dark underbelly of adult life. In the 1990s, Insect became known for his witty stencil and spray painted works, before transitioning to the gallery scene with color-drenched canvases which teetered precariously between tradition and something far more messed up. Never before has chaos been channeled in such clean lines.