Paul Newman is an artist based in Birmingham and a member of Contemporary British Painting. His most recent exhibitions in 2023 are ‘Worlds Away; Art & Nature’ at mac Birmingham and ‘In Ruin’ a solo exhibition as part of Soup VI artist in residence program at Stryx. Previous exhibitions include; Contemporary Masters from Britain; a five museum touring show in China 2017 and Stage, a solo show at mac Birmingham in 2015. Paul is a lecturer at Loughborough University & Birmingham City University since 2007. He has worked with artists and curators including Rachel Bradley Ian Andrews, Mona Casey and Craig Ashley. Paul has work in permanent collections, including; The New Art Gallery Walsall, The Prizeman Seabrook Collection and the Jiangsu Art Museum in China.
My art practice explores painting, installation and performance. Current themes of interest include; the relationship between where art is made and displayed, the studio and the exhibition space. Along side this I am exploring histories in landscape painting in contrast with redeveloping urban environments. The umbrella name for this project is called English Gothic. Reference points include;19th c English landscape painting, 20th c concrete infrastructure, 1960's Hammer Horror films and the 1980's Ford Escort van.
Other areas of interest and research include: The Uncanny in visual Art & literature and performance fictions.
I am a University Teacher in Fine Art, teaching in all areas of Fine Art practice , with specialisms in painting as an interdisciplinary medium, in relation to installation, performance and photography.
I teach into studio practice and writing modules on the BA Fine Art course.
I am a member of Contemporary British Painting and currently write their Artist of the Month article since 2020.
I have received numerous Arts Council England, Grant for the Arts awards over the years for individual and collaborative projects from 2006 onwards. This includes development towards a solo exhibition at Midlands Art Centre (mac birmingham) 'Stage' in 2015.
I have curated many group projects, most recently Concrete Nature in Birmingham in 2023/24. I curated a large group show Monster Club in 2014 which included student work from Loughborough University and Birmingham City University, alongside the work of national and international artists and children from a young persons art club. This project was an example recipient of an ACE Grant for the Arts award.
I have collaborated with a number of established international artists on projects over the years including: Matthew Krishanu & Ian Andrews.