Artists We Love: Paul Senyol

INTERVIEWED BY Lindi Brownell Meiring

After viewing Paul’s latest body of work, we had to catch up with this talented Cape Town-based artist to find out what his plans are for the year ahead.

Your latest body of work is bright, colourful and brimming with emotion. What inspired your recent creations?

Over the past few months my work has started to lean toward bolder and brighter colours, as I think I was getting a bit bored with the pastels and the muted tones. This really took off when I showed in October 2014 with Pierre le Riche in the Odd Traditions exhibition. Showing with him really pushed my work with regards to colour and its use, as his work is naturally bright and striking.

We wanted to put on a show together that was rich and vibrant. For the Golden Haze exhibition at Salon 91, I made a definite point of using more colour, especially bright yellows and light blues, as well as richer greys and darker blues. At the moment, I am really enjoying bright colours and I feel like I would like to continue doing this in 2015. I think colour is coming back in a big way. I also think summer has something to do with it…

What/who has been your biggest influence to date?

I really enjoy being outdoors and in nature. Something I am really enjoying recently is going up Table Mountain on my bicycle. The views, the subtle textures, tones and colours in the vegetation – being so close to the mountain really inspires me. Being summer, the ocean is always a big part of my inspiration. Just the other day, it was such a clear blue…

Other than that, I would say that my biggest influence, creatively as a painter, is a tie between Jean-Michel Basquiat and Cy Twombly. There is a real looseness and spontaneity to their work.

Collaboration is a big trend this year. If you could collaborate with a local artist/s, who would it be, and why?

Right now it would definitely be my friend Andrzej Urbanski. We recently spent a night painting a mural together at Salon 91 for the opening of the Golden Haze exhibition. We had a rough idea in mind of what we wanted to achieve with the mural, but most of it was freestyle painting, and on a really nice big scale compared to working in the studio. We have a great friendship, and think very similarly with regards to our work, so there is a great energy and understanding when we work together. Andrzej and I will be showing alongside Andrew Sutherland and Wesley van Eeden next year for a group show, so there will definitely be some interesting collaborations between the four of us. I have collaborated with both Wesley and Andrew in the past, and really enjoyed it.

It’s a New Year! What are your plans for 2015?

2015 is going to be a busy year. Between myself and Salon 91 we have planned the year already, with a solo show in Joburg, a two-person show with Cathy Layzell, a number of group shows, as well as the Cape Town Art Fair and the Turbine Art Fair. Another project I am excited about is a surf/art tour with some of the RVCA ANP team from Europe. RVCA Africa is inviting a few of the guys over, and we will be doing a tour up to the RVCA headquarters in J-bay. An exhibition will happen once we get back to Cape Town.

To view more of Paul’s work, visit senyol.blogspot.com.