Bengaluru artist Andrew Paul’s ‘Transcending Surfaces’ exhibition explores time and memory

Andrew Paul’s final India show ‘Transcending Surfaces’ uses abstract art, video and found objects to explore time and memory.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts included Andrew Paul’s works in 2016. His painting, ‘Mighty My Saviour,’ was listed below one by the celebrated MF Husain. Another work by him, ‘Redemption,’ also forms the cover of a book written by prominent Canadian-based Indian professor, Clara Joseph. But he does not really want to talk about these achievements.

Then, there are some incredible stories. Like how a random Facebook post of his paintings, which he did to get a few likes, fetched him his buyer: a psychology professor in the US, who called his paintings “medicine.” Andrew shows the texts of the professor, who had multiple sclerosis. 

On another similar serendipitous occasion, he told his sister, “Some rich guy will buy my paintings someday.” She laughed. Sometime later, Indian billionaire Ajay Kalsi brought his paintings. 

“I hadn’t heard about the book The Secret. But I always felt I manifested things,” he says.

He narrates these nuggets of anecdotes during a short tour of his latest exhibition, Transcending Surfaces, at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath on a cloudy Thursday evening. This will be his final solo exhibition in India before he moves to London this year.

However, Andrew is more excited to discuss his works than anecdotes and achievements. That, he says, is what matters most to him.

His abstract paintings are not easily accessible. One of his works in Transcending Surfaces, ‘Memory of the Pandemic’, is vertical frames of red paper with horizontal scratches.