Page 3 - 2021 We Love Art Prize Finalists

TITLE
Apocalyptic breakdown (Somewhere over the rainbow)
ARTIST
Paul White
I am a practicing artist and have been consistently exhibiting nationally and internationally since completing my Bachelor of Arts at the University of Western Sydney in 1997. I completed my Master of Arts at California Institute of the Arts in 2003 with the assistance
of a Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship. This time living in Los Angeles along with recurrent travels and everyday movements inspire and influence my art making. I have always obsessively collected and made things and this dedication continued to a focus of working almost exclusively and meticulously with pencil on paper for the last 15 years now.
DESCRIPTION
My work, a coloured pencil on paper drawing comes from a photo
that I took on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles many years ago. All of my drawings come from images that I have photographed and go into
a large database of images that I draw upon. This image of a 1970’s
van surreally parked on the side of the road covered in an array of random objects and likely acting as a mobile home seemed particularly pertinent in times of covid affected life. I am interested in car culture and this image reminded me of post apocalyptic movies such as Mad Max, or Death Race 2000 where the vehicle acts as a mode of survival. More specifically the van is reminiscent of the Scooby Doo mystery machine, the A team van and custom vans of the 1970’s where these utility vehicles are transformed into dream machines. This particular van reveals layers of time through its build up of flotsam and jetsam and many layers of paint and remnant signage. Its survival and the act of its personal modifications suggest a hope for the future.
I am interested in revealing these elements of the everyday which are
in decay and are signifiers of time passing and relish in pausing this moment through obsessive investigation, interrogation and mark making. My use of pencil on paper in a meticulous and highly detailed manner is not only an attempt to gather every degree of detail from the image by conducting a thorough investigation into it, but also through this time consuming process, a way of slowing down the world.
MEDIUM
Pencil on paper in hand painted frame