Cris Worley Fine Arts is pleased to present Paul Booker’s latest solo exhibition ‘Meander’ opening with an artist reception on February 23rd from 6pm – 8pm. Dallas-native, Paul Booker, continues to delve into the depths of transparency, an apt subject for our time, with his lexan plastic and pin sculptures as well as his layered polyurethane, ink, and enamel paintings. Booker is known for his jagged yet delicate lines, usually created in ink, that construct curving rectangles, cloudforms, or arrows that swarm in various winding pathways. Some of Booker’s visual inspirations include fluid dynamics, animal flocking behavior, insect swarm intelligence and jet streams. All of these natural formations are both imperfect yet ordered creating a fascinating and beautiful visual dichotomy.
Booker’s paintings are made by laying down pigmented oil enamel, followed by drawing in ink, and then covering the surface in layers of polyurethane before beginning the process again. This technique particularly calls to mind flowing water as the colors begin to change as they are submerged deeper and deeper in layers of polyurethane.
Booker’s sculptures, however, are more reminiscent of the jet streams and insect swarms that he is so inspired by. These are built using collector’s pins to stack small pieces of lexan, previously drawn and printed on by the artist, that are cut into the rectangle and arrow shapes he is known for. His sculptural forms float above the wall in elegant arrays or crowd around a central mass. The transparent depth created by light moving through the colored plastic casts ethereal shadows on the wall which are intrinsically part of the sculpture.
Paul Booker received his BFA from the University of Texas in 1995 and his MFA from the University of North Texas in 2000. His work has been shown throughout Texas as well as in New York and California. In 2011, he was part of the Art Museum of Southeast Texas’s Obsessive Worlds exhibition and, in the same year, was included in New American Paintings for the third time in his career.
