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Artist Statement for Paul Brewster
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I remember at the age of around five or six coming across a Starling lying dead in the gutter, its splayed cherry red guts ebbing gently in a stream of oil filled summer rain which was awash with a spectrum of colour spilled from previously parked cars and mirrored by the birds iridescent feathers shimmering in the sun, and 'thought'... "This's really nice".
To accommodate what he calls ‘the latent facsimiles of self’, Paul Brewster is anything but afraid to exploit in his work what he believes to be the necessary tendency in us all towards the voyeuristic analysis of ‘whatever’ in order to necessitate self tolerance and self recognition...
He concedes that his work is an acknowledgment of the need to collate particular references, often embracing unforeseen cultural taboos, in order to fulfil the un-played 'desires' of the individual. He goes on to say, ‘it’s not so much the desire to befriend that counts, but whatever it is that attracts and intrigues - the bits that we recognize within or even beyond the extremities which lie unused in ourselves that count in adding a little to the veiled questions relating to the human condition’. En-route to a place the artist is often unsure of himself, in consequence, his work cuts across a variety of media depending on the given subject.
Born in Sunderland, England, Paul Brewster began his career working in his native north-east of England. After a spell of four years living near Cambridge and exhibiting in and around London he moved to Warsaw, Poland in 2004 to develop his practice further until his move back to Newcastle upon Tyne in 2008 where he continues to paint and expand his interest in photography, video and writing.
After a three year spell in his first job, combining work in the lumber mills on the banks of the River Wear, felling trees in the forests of Northumbria and erecting fences and crash barriers on Britain's motorways, Brewster studied sculpture then painting for four years at Sunderland Polytechnic - graduating in 1985 and in 1994 completing his masters at Northumbria University.
He remained in the North-East during this period where he rented a succession of studios, first in Villias Street with Sunderland Artist Group, followed by a longer spell at the vibrant, some would say infamous, Bunker on Stockton Road and finally in Newcastle at City Studios.
In addition to national and international exposure since his first exhibition in 1988, he has since been accepted on a regular basis for the BP Portrait Awards exhibited annually at The National Portrait Gallery, London. In 1995 and 1997 he was short-listed for the prestigious First Prize and was awarded a commendation on each of these occasions.
Representation by E1 Gallery in London in the late 1990’s and an appointment at Cambridge University meant a move in 2002 closer to the capital, where, in addition to part-time teaching, he worked with Trilogy Laser Craft in Huntingdon. During this period he began a number of new projects including a move into video and developed techniques utilizing the company’s state-of-the-art laser equipment.
Seeking fresh inspiration Brewster’s move to Poland in 2004 meant three exciting years living and working in Warsaw followed by a short spell in Bia³ystok near the border of Belarus. He moved back to England in the Spring of 2008 for a mixture of personal and business reasons.
Throughout his professional career Brewster has continued to have both solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. His work is held in public and private collections throughout the UK, USA and Europe.
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