A “Contemporary Realist,” Paul Morin combines a traditional technique with a modern sensibility – images that confront the viewer and with a sense of scale that is very individual. Paul delves into the personality of his subjects much like a candid snapshot reveals the moment-specific projection of a person’s inner thoughts. His commissioned portraits bring an immediacy to his subjects revealing an inner life that truly makes the sitter “come alive!”
This current body of work in oil and silver metal leaf attempts to find a language that is both ancient and modern — a portraiture for the 21st century. A religious icon? A daguerreotype? The “Silver Screen?” The images are both vintage and contemporary. The faces confront and the backgrounds glow like a light that could be sacred and otherworldly or secular and garish. Move around the room — the silver will pick up the ambient light and reflect it back to you in a magical aura.
Selected Exhibitions
Portraits and Digressions, ArtHaus, San Francisco, CA
stART-Up Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA
20th Century Blues, Revelation Gallery, Mill Valley, CA
Cartes de Visite, Modern Relics, San Francisco, CA
Left Coast Annual Juried Show, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
Imaginarium, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Found Portraits, ArtZone 461, San Francisco, CA
Recognition
The White House (collection), Washington, DC
Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, UCSF, (commission and collection), San Francisco, CA
Dance Biopharm, Inc., (collection), Brisbane, CA
Annual California Realism Award, ArtZone 461, San Francisco, CA
Best 2D Work, Coastal Arts League, Half Moon Bay, CA