Paul Wright - Portrait of an Icon

About

Edgar Modern is pleased to announce that our next landmark exhibition will feature paintings from the internationally acclaimed Paul Wright. The show, entitled ‘Portrait of an Icon', will include exclusively new work that has been created in response to the gallery space. Wright said he has been focused on creating a ‘new set of strong, focused, punchy and explosive pieces'. The results are a highly ambitious exploration of colour, shape and form with Wright pushing his skilful techniques to the limit. Wright was born in 1973 in Leicester, and originally trained as an Illustrator at Falmouth School of Art, a profession that he rejected immediately in favour of fine art. He has spent the last 14 years developing his distinct painterly style, one that has seen him exhibit all over the world. ‘Portrait of an Icon' will see Wright's three core distinctive subjects working together to create a dialogue within the gallery space. These strands can clearly be identified as what he describes as his ‘heads', or portraits, which have been a constant concern throughout his career alongside ‘objects' and his newest obsession ‘interiors'. Although his subjects can be recognised as strongly traditional Wright seeks to transgress the unwritten rules that underlie them by using challenging colour in unexpected ways. Wright's work is full of a captivating vitality that draws the viewer into the relationship between the painter and his subject. For Wright, for painting to be relevant today the artist must seek to push their representation beyond creating merely a likeness of their subject. The work must go deeper revealing experience, emotions and capturing a moment in time. He says ‘for me a work is successful if, however flawed it is, the artist has exposed something of themselves.' His paintings seek to be purposefully open-ended creating a space for the audience to discover meaning in their compelling implied narratives. This is an unmissable exhibition at a key moment in the career of a significant British painter. Paul Wright's ‘Portrait of an Icon' is sure to be an exceptional collection, which Edgar Modern is excited to present.