Paul Haywood lives and works in
Karamea on the South Island's West Coast. He graduated with a
Diploma of Visual Arts from the School of Visual Arts, Nelson, and
has exhibited nationally and internationally since 1991, including
a show in Costa Rica in 1998.
Haywood's richly textured, abstract
canvases are inspired as much by his experiences with indigenous
cultures in Third World countries as by the West Coast environment
and his desire to let the properties of the raw materials of
painting speak for themselves.
Haywood's painterly approach results in multi-level work, both
literally and figuratively. Paint rises from the canvas and
is moulded and shaped into visceral patterns that relate an
underlying tension and gravity in the work.
In 2004 Haywood's work was selected for the James Wallace
Collection and the following year he was invited to take up the
artist's residency at the Parnell Community Trust in Parnell,
Auckland.