Paul P. (born Canda, 1977) lives and works between Paris, New York and Toronto. He is known for paintings and works on paper engaged primarily with portraiture, and with the production of an archive of male faces culled from photographs found in gay magazines dating from the late 1960s to the early 1980s; specifically, the historical period bracketed by the emergence of gay-liberation and the advent of the awareness of the Aids crisis. These portraits reframed and reimagined these anonymous young men within a late nineteenth century beaux-arts context. referring to artists such as James McNeill Whistler, this work forges a link between the two time periods: both vibrant conceptual/aesthetic pinnacles existing at the edge of profound (and catastrophic) transformation.

The artist will be based at Cove Park for six weeks and will use this time to explore further new developments in his practice, including the conception of a series of collages, sculptural works int he form of furniture, and their considered arrangement within the gallery space.

Cove Park is committed to supporting established international artists and creating ways in which these individuals can engage with artists, organizations and audiences in Scotland. Previous international visual arts residents include Jumana Abboud (Palestine), Bik van der Pol (The Netherlands), Tyler Coburn USA), Tania Pérez Córdova (Mexico), Abraham Cruzvillegas (Mexico), Mariana Castillo Deball (Mexico), Martin Healy (Ireland), Takahiro Iwasaki (Japan), Taro Izumi (Japan), Matt Keegan (USA), Matts Leiderstam (Sweden), Sean Lynch (Ireland) and Jan Verwoert (Germany).

Image: ‘Hamish St Clair Erskine’, 2014, mahogany and lacquer, dimensions variable