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Green Pebble Magazine
Articles
Paul Harris: Inside
and Out
Green Pebble Autumn 2008 issue
‘A
rope has never been made, that can bind
thought.’ Thus asserts a proverb that could
have been written for Paul Harris, a Norfolk
painter who has battled unforgiving odds to
become a professional artist.
Paul is a man whose oil paintings are so
evocative that they rarely fail to move the
people who have the opportunity to see one
of his pieces. From the penetrating
expression on Paul’s father’s face in Bernard Harris (featured
image) to the manic imagery of Old Man with Two Kiwi Fruit, Paul’s works
explore complex and sometimes uncomfortable truths, the pictures’ content
challenging the viewer to question the nature of relationships and in the
process, to discover something about themselves.
Twenty-five years ago, Paul - like most young adults - allowed himself to
be influenced by those around him. Although he had always wanted to be an
artist, he quickly noticed ‘a kind of rot’ setting in quite early
in his art education, with teachers telling him that only a lucky few could
become artists.
Everyone else, he was told, should consider becoming illustrators or graphic
designers.
He took their advice, enrolled on a BTEC course in graphic design, and found
the lessons ‘mind-numbingly boring’. Worse, he was shy and hardly
spoke to the other people on the course. Realising he was on the wrong path,
he enrolled on a foundation course at the same college with the intention
of taking an art degree afterwards. He states that here his relationship with
his fellow students was much better, but he still found it difficult to socialise.
His disillusionment continued to deepen. ‘I thought the other students
would be as enthusiastic about art as I was, but it was as though the majority
of them had just wandered in because they could not think of anything else
to do. Without the enthusiasm of others to inspire me, I found it difficult
to motivate myself.’
When, upon joining the Camberwell School of Art, the students there too failed
to live up to his expectations, Paul began to suffer from bouts of depression.
He was, he says now, unusually naïve and gullible. But he soldiered on
despite feeling hopelessly lost, and completed his degree show.
‘Not one comment was made about my work,’ he remembers, summing
up as ‘appalling’ what should have been a highlight of every art
student’s life.
Thankfully, not every experience was a negative one. In the early years before
the frustration and alienation truly took hold, Paul met Peter Knox, a successful
illustrator ‘whose enthusiasm for expressing the minutiae of life, both
verbally and in his work, was totally thrilling at the time.’ Paul remembers
Peter as ‘a kind of cool nerd type who managed to pull off a moustache
and glasses combo, and drove a VW Beetle that was kept in mint condition.
He was inspiring, encouraging and very funny. He influenced me a great deal.’
Even at Camberwell, Paul felt he learned to understand conceptual art to a
level where he was able to talk intelligently about it with the tutors. ‘I
felt I earned the respect of some of them,’ he says. ‘They must
have seen me as naïve, but they could see some potential.’
Most importantly, he had matured and begun to think for himself, developing
a sense of determination which would help him weather further illnesses and
setbacks.
For about seven years he went from one job to another, both in England and
abroad. ‘I still had very low self-esteem but I gradually managed to
deal with, and eventually beat, my depression. This period of time had a massive
effect on me and on my outlook on life, but it was not planned that way. I
was the proverbial drunken monkey staggering aimlessly through life, but I
gained immensely from it anyway.’....
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