Paul Hardy (b. 1980, Summerside PEI, live and works in Montréal) creates ambiguous and abstracted paintings characterized by relentless material explorations and constant searching. Together, they move through and map out several diverging historical, personal, and painterly references into a unique vision that investigates the nature of creative processes, the act of painting, and notions of selfhood. Hardy holds an MFA from Concordia University and a BA from Université de Moncton.
He was a finalist in the RBC Canadian Painting Competition, participated in the Symposium international d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul, and was an artist in residence at Artscape Gibraltar Point (Toronto Islands) and RUD AIR in Laxarby, Sweden. He has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. Notable and recent solo exhibitions include The Waves at Parisian Laundry and Study for Ways to Live at Centre Clark. Hardy currently teaches as Artist in Residence at Concordia University and presented his first solo exhibition with Galeries Bellemare Lambert in 2022.
Artwork description
Drift Glow is made up of eight panels divided into two installations, one with three panels and one with five. Paul Hardy believes that painting is an ever-changing, dynamic process. While he acknowledges the tradition and history of abstraction, his paintings are not locked in time. On the contrary, they are imbued with the unstable and exploratory nature of the medium itself. The remarkable yet unimposing format allows the artwork to become part of the room’s architecture, drawing the eye in a powerful gesture.