Paul Morrow’s approach is in part informed by being the son of the carpenter. Paul starts each painting by constructing the boards on which he paints. This ritualistic approach to the construction of the boards and the inherent properties of the wood are fully included into the process. Here the qualities of the wood are both fully realised, honoured and become inherent within the painting.
The physical act of painting is anchored in the moment and the immediacy of the gesture. The formative stages are sometimes developed as reference to a sense of place, no preparatory work is undertaken. The work calls on fragments of memory; shapes, colours and forms are generated through a series of gestures that can be considered automatic and visceral in nature. The marks are applied and then considered, an intervention is then made to keep or remove them. The compositions unfold over a period of time through this process of excavation; in a manner that could be described as an intuitive, a dialectical conversation mediated by paint.
His most recent work is more attuned to the act of painting as legitimate practice rather than a reference to something real or concrete. The fractured series are products of this most recent on-going enquiry.
