By STEPHEN WOZNIAK, May 2023
"You might say the distinction of the artificial from the natural is a very artificial distinction. The constructs of human beings are really not any more unnatural than beehives and bird's nests. They are extensions of ourselves."
-Alan Watts, American/British philosopher
Destruction, after all, is a form of creation."
-Graham Greene, The Destructors
“You have to be optimistic. I still have doubts and conflicts, but the bottom line is, I believe in the future.” – Frank Gehry, architect
Paul Paiement is a positive person. He seems to believe in humanity – even during this overwhelming epoch – when many of us often do not. I wonder if it’s his familial obligations, sanguine sociability, heavenly promises, earthly incentives or built-in biochemistry? It’s probably none of those things. Paiement is certainly a creative creature to hold an assured belief in our next steps, whether loosely based on our – often erroneous – last steps or feckless faith of the unknown ahead. You have to be inherently creative to intuit our as-yet place in the world that, as Paiement will say, we are already a part of. While I have interviewed Paiement and gathered this much from our talks, I think his artwork speaks louder than words could ever do.
A collection of thirteen Paiement works can be seen in the remarkable solo exhibition, Nexus, at Tufenkian Fine Arts in metropolitan Los Angeles now through June 17. In his new series, the artist deftly employs the use of languid aerial perspective, here-and-now representation, cut-above abstraction and special overlay techniques to expose the tangled relationship between the commonly held view of nature as a far away foreign land and the idea of human, battle-winning exceptionalism.
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