Paul Boddum
Artist Statement
Contemporary post-modern culture, painting from observation, and experimenting with negative pictorial space are all crucial to my paintings. In the search for beauty and artistic expression, my choice of the portrait genre is fitting and historically it has been a medium for expressing unique personalities and emotions.
I'm interested in examining the structures surrounding adopting a domestic pet, who is a living soul that we reach out to and invite into our life - an interspecies adoption. Something I care deeply about is that a good quality of life matters as much to an animal as it does to us. As an adoptee, it feels natural to be drawn to domestic pets, thinking about the transformative bond that forms from the need to be cared for by others.
My depictions of animals attempt to convey something intangible; the essence of an animals playfulness, energy, spirit, kindness, and humanity. My process begins with projecting a photo of the subject onto canvas, and doing a loose sketch. Then I add expressive colours, abstract shapes, and textures around the animal. The message I'm trying to convey to the viewer is giving a voice to the voiceless, what would that animal want to express that they can't in words.
