Paul Shapiro (artist)


Paul Shapiro is an American Abstract Expressionist and landscape painter.
New Mexican author Jon Carver writes of Shapiro's work: "Paul's interest in art and his commitment to painting is unassailable and extends to the depths of his being."

Early life and education

Paul Shapiro was born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 26, 1939. He studied at Northeastern University from 1957–1958 and then the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from 1959–1962.

Artwork

In the 1960s, Shapiro was part of the Abstract Expressionist movement, but a 1970 Paris exhibition of early 20th century Expressionist painters inspired him to pursue landscape painting for the next two decades. His works were characterized by bold color and gesture. His 1982 move to Santa Fe, New Mexico crystallized his love of landscape painting. In the 1990s, he shifted back to nonobjective abstract, but influenced of the land can still be discerned in his recent paintings.
Paul Shapiro creates visceral abstract paintings on paper and panels. His recent series, Quatumscape, is inspired by natural forces and the landscape.
Even though my work was fairly loose and abstract, I felt very confined by the envelope around recognizable forms and gravity-based relationships. In my abstract paintings, I have tried to create a concrete reality that brings an invisible world to the surface: evocative implications of a suggested parallel reality similar to what happens in poetry." —Paul Shapiro

Art career

Shapiro has exhibited internationally, throughout the United States and from Switzerland to Denmark. In 2010, he won the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Selected Solo Exhibitions