Dance And Drink And Screw
‘He came from Sheffield he had a thirst for knowledge, he studied Graphics at Norton College…’ but that’s not where it first caught his eye, no. That would have been back at the tender age of 13 designing tape covers for ‘Pumpkin Binge’ his first band, and a pretty shabby one by his own admission. He soon discovered that drawing up tape covers took preference over the songs, so it seemed appropriate to follow this path, onwards and upwards; doodling, boozing, designing fanzines, making bits of music and generally hanging around with other creative folk.
In December 1999, after Graduating from the Norton Graphic Design course, he joined Sheffield design agency ‘Corporation Pop’ (then know as Eg.G), before relocating to Manchester’s Northern Quarter with them in August 2000. It was here that he made potato printing fashionable again (see ‘Electric Souls’ covers by The Unabombers) alongside designing flyers, websites, record sleeves and animated videos for many a Manchester-based music project including Sankeys Soap, Grand Central Records, Kings Have Long Arms, Electric Chair and The Warehouse Project / Paradise.
Paul’s work relies on his observations of the simple day-to-day rituals of life (having breakfast, going to the pub, people-watching, dossing) providing a counterpoint to the influence of the high-concept work of the likes of Damien Hirst, Tracy Emin, Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Designers Republic, Tomato and, of course, advertiser-turned-artist Andy Warhol.
For ‘Dance and Drink and Screw’, his first exhibition, Paul will use the walls of Common to continue his visual exploration of musical themes. The subject matter: a witty play on Paul’s Sheffield roots and his adopted home of Manchester and we’re leaving it up to you to figure it out.