Shows
Paul Campbell
Facebook Profiles
10 April – 10 May 2008
Opening Reception: Thursday 10 April, 6 - 8 pm
In the main gallery, Facebook Profiles marks Campbell’s radical return to figurative painting. In contrast to his earlier work, that’s mainly abstract and deals with chance, his new work explores the issue of choice in a digital world. As in his prior work Projection Series, Campbell continues to extrapolate from smaller pictures, exploiting the effects of enlarging images. While varying graphically and stylistically between paintings in the series and within each painting itself, Campbell displays his artistic skill. Stark contrasts in color as well as hardness and softness make for exciting composition.
Painting against the contemporary, Campbell has immortalized the Internet profile picture. Facebook Profiles is a series of paintings of various digital pictures that Campbell’s friends and family chose to represent themselves on www.facebook.com. Interpreted and creatively presented anew, these works experiment with innovative representations of single, pre-chosen, temporal, digital images that are symbolic of the self. Campbell’s paintings are sometimes playful, comical or borderline frightening. They not only display the human side of the Internet but also exhibit innate power and energy. Campbell’s new works are guaranteed to unearth raw and authentic emotions and challenge the viewer to redefine projected reality.