Soft Bark
Soft Bark features a series of paintings, drawings and collages that examine the absurdity of the artist’s own unshakable romanticism under the scouring light of ecological armageddon. Paul Collins’s work pits the imagery of the inspired but needy naturalist with the indifferent gaze of nature itself. The works wobble between ecstasy and doubt as they in turn celebrate and mourn our coexistence with trees. These works utilize layering, intense chroma and gesture to bring discrete realities into conversation. In doing so these works act as flytraps for the contradictions that embody the ambivalence of our place in the natural world.
Paul Collins is an artist, curator and educator from Nashville, TN. Collins makes paintings, drawings and sculpture that combine humor, tactility and observation to examine the world. A self proclaimed tree hugger, Collins never met a vine he didn’t enjoy killing. Paul has an MFA from Yale University and has been a resident at Skowhegan, Anderson Ranch Arts Center and the Vermont Studio Center. His work has been featured in New American Paintings, Art Voices, Fresh Paint Magazine, and has been exhibited across the US. Paul teaches at Austin Peay State University and is represented by Zeitgeist Gallery in Nashville.