Punctuated with both humour and pathos, Paul Hobbs’ work engages a wide range of materials to wrestle with questions of human value, dignity and faith. Familiar images are collaged together to make disturbing and yet frequently amusing juxtapositions. Some literally become visual puzzles. Hidden in the layers of paint, collage and assorted objects, metaphors and associations abound, laying out stories with multiple meanings.
Drawing on topical news and social debate, Paul’s background in Sociology and faith, this work tries to come to terms with a world of great opportunity and yet great suffering, a place where even one’s best intentions can become distorted, or diluted by more pressing local activity.
Current exhibits include work on homelessness, old age, sexuality, fatherhood, our capacity for violence, child abuse, the effects of physical and spiritual famine, the Beatitudes, the Trinity, and faith, hope & love. A series of more celebratory abstract paintings and sculptures balance this work with a visual feast of pattern, colour and movement. The range of work is made from materials including wood, stone, latex, collage, paint, wax, and found or commercially manufactured objects. Paul paints mostly in acrylic.
In this interview Paul talks about how he is using fusion within fine art and sculpture.