PAUL G. OXBOROUGH
	FOREWORD In a field of white linen, artist Paul G. Oxborough presents an intimate morning scene, sensual and serene. "First One Up" depicts the drowsy awakening of his young daughter while her sister and mother sleep on. Across the large canvas the figures repose beneath tousled white sheets that are indicated with a multiple of colors: lavender, blue, pink, yellow, aqua. Although a table separates the two beds, in the haze of morning light, the complicated drapery merges into one shape, allowing us to feel the interconnectedness of the family. In manner and fluid expertise, Oxborough's work begs comparison to John Singer Sargent. In fact, his "Self Portrait as Robert Louis Stevenson" is something of a homage to the nineteenth-century master, as well as a self-mocking desire to be the first to acknowledge the comparison. Oxborough's other influences include Velázques, Anders Zorn, Sorolla, as well as William Merritt Chase, and other American Impressionists of the Boston School, whose training and style had been handed down to Oxborough's teachers. Born in Minnesota in 1965, the artist studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and at Atelier Leseuer, where he spent four years soaking in the French academic tradition. His classical training is brilliantly obvious; the strong foundation of accurate drawing and spatial understanding gives him freedom to execute bravura brushwork with complete authority. His darks are generally transparent, masses of subtle blue-grays or multi-toned browns, while the highlights are thickened impasto surfaces that draw the eye. This is wonderfully evident in At the Bar, a painting of a bartender in a well of light, his face a trifle weary and worldly wise, the highlights from below brightening his eyes, announcing a willingness to hear any proffered tale. Behind him, the darkened room rises up, the lack of density in the paint allowing the viewer to go deep into the interior beyond. "Silver and Green" is one in a series of paintings done with a single model, a dancer at his daughter's ballet school. Because of her coloring-dark hair and fair skin-Oxborough felt she could be placed in any setting, and that she would compliment any background. Because of this, pigment, rather than subject, became his primary concern. The results are sumptuous explorations into a rich variety of interacting colors. A frequent visitor to Europe, Oxborough has painted in France, Spain, Italy, England, Wales, and Portugal. These sojourns are a time for him to bond with his family as well as produce many remarkable works. In one, titled "In the Buçaco Forest," his son sits nearly out of frame in front of a pile of freshly cut timber in a sunlit barnyard. The extreme contrast between the shadowed boy and the large, brilliantly lit yard is a visceral evocation of fragrant summer heat. Speaking of his intentions regarding his work, the artist says, "I like a sense of movement and depth. I like Impressionism from the word go. You can't paint the heat in Portugal unless you go there." Which is not to say Oxborough doesn't do some studio pieces, but even there, he says, "the impetus is life, the impression." One of the things that makes Paul G. Oxborough's work unique, and which is plainly evident in this collection, is its sheer variety, not only in subject matter, but in its range of tonal values. From the glimmering darkness of brooding interiors, to the nearly abstract sweep of whites and creams, the artist boldly explores a multitude of worlds.
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