Paul Karslake F.R.S.A.

Even before he won his first County Art Prize at the age of eight, Paul was immersed into the art world.  Paul’s father, Mike, was a professional architectural model maker who was not only his teacher but also his mentor.  From Mike, Paul was taught form and perspective, attributes so lacking in many of today’s working artists.

Paul used his art to help with his school projects and gain his ‘O’ levels and carried on to SEEVIC and Southend College of Art and Technology before joining his father to work on design models for the Thames Flood Barrier.    In the late 1970’s Paul decided to travel in order to broaden both his personal and artistic experiences. Starting in Europe, where Paul met Dali he travelled on to America for what he thought would be a three-week holiday. He stayed for four years.

Within days of arriving in the States he was working not only on an interior of a club but also, as his talent was identified, for Los Angeles Art Studios, CBS Television and Disney with whom, years later, he was to work on the EuroDisney project.
  
Back in England in the early 1980’s Paul developed almost a cult following for his decorative designs and paintings on scooters, particularly Lambrettas.  Today, if you are travelling down the motorway you may well come up behind a coach displaying a large Elephant or Tiger on it, or if you are at the airport, see an aircraft with a 45-foot head of a Cougar hand painted on each side.  In both cases these are brilliant examples of the diverse talent that Paul has for art in any form.  
  
The 1980’s saw Paul forming his Company The Art House to control both his Fine Art, teaching and Commercial art interests.  In 1990 Paul was commissioned by Wiggins Group Plc., to produce a 650 foot long artwork hoarding to surround their site at South Quay in London Docklands and for which he was awarded The Evening Standard Environmental Award.  Also in 1990 Paul was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
 
The new Millennium has heralded developing ties with the Fine Art market.  Although the immensely successful Commercial side of the Group still provides the backbone of the business, Fine Art projects have had significant impact.  An exhibition at Derek Johns Ltd., St. James’s, London in 1998 has lead onto commissions for the Michelin starred Gordon Ramsay whose restaurant Petrus in St. James’swas lined with large Paul Karslake Still Lifes.  More recently Paul has completed commissions for The Turf Club and NABIM, both situated in London, has supplied large impressive Still Lifes for The Boatyard restaurant in Leigh-on-Sea, had an exhibition at the Rupert Clevely owned The Bearin Clerkenwell and had two paintings nominated for hanging at the RA 2001 Summer Exhibition.  In the autumn of 2001 he opened his own Gallery, Paul Karslake Fine Art, at his studio to display his work.  Johnny Depp has said he was so influenced by one of Paul’s paintings of Keith Richards dressed as a pirate, that he based his character in the Pirates of the Caribbean on that painting.
 
Over the years Paul has submitted paintings for various charity fundraising auctions raising considerable sums of money per piece at events such as The Ashe Park Charity Polo Challenge in the presence of HRH The Prince of Wales, an auction in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in aid of the homeless charity ‘Passage’ along with fellow artists Tracey Emin, David Bowie and HRH The Prince of Wales amongst others, and a Celebrity Gala Fundraising Auction for the Theatre Royal Winchester with guests including Sir David Frost, Esther Rantzen, Alan Coran and Jon Snow.  A waistcoat hand painted by Paul was worn by Terry Wogan for the BBC Children in Need Appeal 2001 and was later auctioned for the charity.

In 2002 Paul was invited to sign with The Bridgeman Art Library in London for copyright and reproduction rights.  His most recent work has meant a change of direction and has seen him producing contemporary abstract paintings for hotels, clubs and restaurants around the country.   In the summer of 2003 he was awarded “Most Exciting Work” at the Essex Open Art Exhibition.
 
Spring and Autumn 2004 saw Paul exhibiting at The Medici Galleries, 7 Grafton Street, London W1 and April 2005 saw a one man show at the Hollywood Arms, Fulham attended by various celebrities which was a huge success.
 
In September 2005 Paul was granted the honour of having an Arts Centre at The Cornelius Vermuyden School and Arts Collage named ‘The Karslake Centre’.

At the beginning of 2006 Paul is looking forward to holding an exhibition in Los Angeles and New York to launch a range of Paul Karslake prints.
 
Paul Karslake can never be said to conform to the preconception of an artist struggling for inspiration and full of self-doubt.  Paul brims with inspiration and enthusiasm.  No project is ever too big or too difficult – he will always find the way to produce something truly inspirational!