EVERYMAN 2023 - 2026
The fully evident graphic skills of David Paulson’s images are wielded by the artist to make pithy statements about the subjects he paints and draws. Rather than appearing as portraits of specific personalities these images are amalgams of ‘everyman’ - where the details and features are composed from remembered fand imaginary face-parts . As such, they are almost identi-kits of faces recalled from glimpses-in-passing; personages put together with details rendered through unflinching scrutiny. In contrast to these fluid renderings of faces, Paulson’s images of ‘home’ are diagrammatic and minimal. Bombs and grenades seem caught in the moments before explosion; angry dogs strain at the leash. Together they present a wry reflection of home and identity as force-fields of restlessness – we are left with the sense that beneath the surface veneer, all forms of outward ‘identity’ are little more than fragile, motile structures open to change, defacement and reassessment.

THE ARRANGEMENT OF SPRING 2020 
‘The Arrangement of Spring’ is a reflection on the transformation of a leaf or a group of leaves, that at the end of their life cycle appear to have such imaginary character.

LIFE’S LITTLE IRONIES 2020 (featured in Figuratively Speaking 2020 view exhibition here)
David Paulson’s new range of collagraph prints and drawings have been produced in his Maleny studios over the last year. Although David has been fascinated with the human figure as a subject for well over 50 years, he has been more obsessed with the integral process of drawing itself. David, at the age of 75, continues to teach art and practice drawing daily.

Self-isolation has never been a problem for the artist, using the recent quieter weeks to complete a suite of 46 new collagraphs titled Life’s Little Ironies. His assuredly drawn lines are etched directly into slabs of cardboard for a raw graphic impression. Most of the collagraphs are hand tinted with watercolours. The subjects are male and female heads or seated figures, sometimes staged with weapons and bombs, amidst birds and prams. Some of the images hark back to earlier work completed 40 years ago. These tight, brazen compositions all present an ambiguous undertone, perhaps as sardonic references to ageing and the human condition? David comments, “these hand-tinted collagraphs are redolent of ‘Life’s Little Ironies’, thoughts on the fabric of our tragic existence”.

MIXED MEDIA PORTRAITS 2020 (featured in Figuratively Speaking 2020 view exhibition here)
The artist is always quick to announce that his work is not about realism or anatomy but rather about the mark, expressions and processes in the act of drawing. This new suite includes eight mixed media self-portraits on paper which are staged, from a little mirror in the studio, as the artist is one’s most reliable model. David explains that his is not really a familiar face. The drawing says more about the inner self, much more than the common selfies we see proliferated in the digital arena. But David’s portraits are more about investigations into drawing. “It’s not about me, it’s about what I can say about drawing!” David further commented that these portraits on paper “are about the observance of ‘time passing’ unhindered by the narcissism of youth.”

As well as these self-portraits, David has completed two portraits of the late Artist and friend, Laurie Nilsen.

There is a peculiar discomfort in viewing many of these works. They touch a nerve and ignite an interrogative mood. They make you think about yourself.

LITTLE MYSTERIES 2019  (View exhibition here)
David returns to perhaps his most popular subject - the infamous Maleny creek. The Artist is a most discerning painter of light and life; he continues to focus on the simple magic of image making. Whilst one may recognise moments of clarity, including allusions to water, stone, leafs or twigs, the artist views nature simply as a brilliant convenience to recreate his cropped abstractions, his world view. Within this intensified zone the viewer is forced to reassess both the minutiae of any perceived real world, and the acuity of the actual object in front of them.

SPACE + PLACE 2016- (View exhibition here)
This exhibition reveals David's almost childlike fascination for colour and design, with a love of the inner drama and the disquiet narrative. For Paulson (as discussed in an accompanying essay by Scott Breton): “Light, space, character, physical gesture, human anatomy, and symbolism - these great themes in the tradition of visual art are recurring elements that Paulson’s eye revels in: simplifying, exaggerating and transforming them through his characteristic intensity of informed mark making…” David on the other hand is born through a different human condition. “…In an earlier stage of Paulson’s artistic production, he aimed his capacity for visual drama at various injustices of Australian society, producing startling and often controversial pieces throughout his rich and illustrious art career, Paulson has always returned to the practise of life drawing, finding an anchor in this discipline and the immediacy of the ever compelling life model.” The series of new painted plywood cut outs are a testimony to his skill and reverence -a powerful awareness of space around the human form.

STUDIO MODELS 2016
This series of painted plywood cut-outs are a testimony to the Artist's skill and his powerful awareness of space around the human form.

DRAWING BACK 2014
Having painted the Maleny creek on the Sunshine Coast for the past ten years, David's exhibition of new works re-explores and re-connects with his ongoing interest in the figure and the human condition. Paulson, renowned for his draftmanship, has been refining his practice as both artist and teacher since the 1970s. His bold and confident works in this exhibition capture an emotional intensity and reveal a curiosity with the subconscious mind and anxieties.  The inspiration for the exhibition’s major work, a large-scale portrait of Major General John Cantwell, followed the artist’s meeting with Cantwell at his book launch for Exit Wounds. This exhibition Drawing Back includes over thirty life drawings, self-portraits and complex figure studies on canvas and paper.

MALENY CREEK 2013
David’s new series Maleny Creek 2013, features 10 large oil paintings inspired by a creek bed in his own backyard in Maleny.  David has been painting from Maleny since 2003 and this show represents his 5th solo exhibition whereby his précised scenes of creek beds, along with the dramatic light and dark of the rainforest, is a constant source of visual energy for the artist: “I don’t see the creek as a landscape. I see it almost as a kaleidoscopic understanding of the planet, the universe, its layering, its complexities, its brilliance, its minutiae.” 

TENEBROUS 2009
In conversation with David in the seclusion of the studio, it becomes obvious that his musical and artistic tastes serve as an ongoing inspiration and accompaniment for his painting and are ultimately, I am convinced, revealed in his images. The rhythmic energy of a Beethoven sonata seems to find its visual manifestation in the way water moves and stirs through parts of his canvas, (yes, perhaps slightly against the tide). Rembrandt, never far away, finds a latter day soul-mate, (albeit in shorts and pink thongs), whose consideration of light likewise enables him to render visible the beauty of form against the mysteries of an unknown darkness. David mentions the importance of Tiepolo, and I see this revealed in his treatment of light in the painted corner of a composition. A brief, yet valuable moment demonstrating to me the beauty of painting as a unique and timeless language - a shared knowledge that enables artists to dialogue through time, place and culture.

Excerpt from Tenebrous FireWorks Gallery catalogue essay, Miles Hall March 2009

Courtesy of the Artist and FireWorks Gallery