Back to top

Beyond Words: Embracing the Unconscious World, works by Paul Shakespear

Beyond Words: Embracing the Unconscious World, works by Paul Shakespear



1 Davis Square, Somerville

You are here

“Painting, like making music, is an activity beyond words, a reaching for the emotional and unconscious world.”


Paul Shakespear lives and works in the Boston area and has a studio at Vernon Street Studios. While he is native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was educated here in the Greater Boston area at Boston College as well as the University of Manchester and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Creativity has always played some of role in Paul’s life. With his parents being engineers and involved with various design projects, he even considered being an architect. That legacy has lingered and stills persists in the collective body of his work today. For Shakespear, it’s the limitations and parameters of minimalism that acts as a kind of springboard for ever more complicated imagery. It is about a feeling—a way to make seemingly subtle simplicity invoke complex emotions. It is art in its purest form for all to enjoy.

Artists Statement

Painting, like making music, is an activity beyond words, a reaching for the emotional and unconscious world. While this is can be a meditative process, there are times it takes thirty or more layers to get the desired result. Thin acrylic glazes are carefully brushed, troweled, and rubbed onto each painting to achieve the final surface.
I keep painting because sometimes I glimpse, in my work or the work of others, what the simple combination of paint, canvas and wood can achieve: a mysteriously powerful compression of emotion, memory, and visual delight.

For more information, visit Paul’s website: www.paulshakespear.com
Instagram @pabloshakespear

About the Inside-Out Gallery
Initiated in 2009, The Inside-Out Gallery is located in the CVS Window in Davis Square, a unique space that allows the public to view an eclectic array of works from artists and local organizations each month. The mission of the Somerville Arts Council is to cultivate and celebrate the creative expressions of the Somerville community. Through innovative collaborations and quality programming we work to make the arts an integral part of life reflective of our diverse city.