Paul Winstanley

British artist Paul Winstanley (born 1954) has established an international reputation for his atmospheric photorealistic paintings of nondescript places and anonymous figures. Here he takes 59 of his own works as a starting point to discuss what it means to make paintings.

Filled with photographs of unpopulated studios, Paul Winstanley’s exploration of British art schools highlights their importance at a time when the art school system’s existence is more fraught than ever.

In his latest series, Paul Winstanley documents undergraduate studio spaces from over 50 art colleges across the United Kingdom. These rough and ready, nearly neutral spaces are photographed as found: empty between school years.

Collectively, the works highlight the abstraction of the interior with their temporary white walls, paint stains, neutral floors and open spaces. Photographed in this manner, their sterile nature is juxtaposed by their intended purpose of fostering intense creativity for a future generation of artists.

Over 200 full-colour images, which combine various schools to form their own abstract space, are accompanied by a text by renowned professor Jon Thompson and an interview with the artist by Maria Fusco.