PAUL G. OXBOROUGH
	FOREWORD The past two years have been quite remarkable for Paul Oxborough both professionally and privately - a time in which milestones reached were plentiful. As an artist his achievements culminated at two very prestigious exhibitions. One of only a few non-UK residents selected for inclusion in the BP Award Exhibition, the artist's portrait of "Javier" hung in the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. In the US, out of a field of over four thousand, Oxborough was selected as one of only some fifty painters chosen to be part of the opening exhibition of the Smithsonian Institution's newly renovated National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. His portrait of "Chuck Close" will remain on exhibit there until February of 2007. Equally momentous and far more personal, as a father he saw the third of his four children off to college and his youngest entering high school. And all of these defining and memorable moments were reached while he was just turning forty. Paul Oxborough's work and his family life have always been tightly intertwined. As we have seen over the years, many of his subjects were drawn from those closest to him. The family's frequent trips to Europe have proven a great source of inspiration, and we've enjoyed many works drawn from the cafes and hotels they encountered along their journeys. And though this new one-man exhibition is peppered with paintings from sojourns overseas, Oxborough's artistic exploration in recent years has included travels across the United States…from the Louisiana bayous to the fertile hillsides of Northern California and from the icy rivers of Montana to the coastline of the Northeast. In discovering more of America, he came to revisit the outdoor lifestyle he knew as a child and young adult growing up in the Midwest. This wonderfully diverse collection of paintings begins with his "Self Portrait by Campfire", a more rugged and adventurous side of the artist than we have seen before. He takes us "Pheasant Hunting" and "Fly Fishing" from "The Farmhouse" to "The Mess Tent." In small pristine works he compares the snow covered Alps with the top of a mountain in Big Sky country. These settings are ripe for Oxborough's interpretation of sun-drenched mornings and long-shadowed afternoons. Yet, once sated with the outdoors, the artist couldn't help but return to the candlelit jazz clubs and sophisticated restaurants he found so intriguing in the urban landscape. Ready for the evening ahead, a young man stands attentively to greet the first customer of the night in "Three Waiters." Reflected in the mirror, the shimmering sparkle of bottles in "Grand Plaza Bar" creates a baroque and dramatic backdrop for the young woman standing next to the impossibly large, red-shaded Chinese lamp. Oxborough brings to this collection a strength, freedom and confidence that is nurtured by accomplishment and recognition. This body of work, perhaps more than any other before it, encompasses an even greater diversity, displays a more masterful virtuosity and reveals even deeper personal insight. For Oxborough his art and his life are inseparable companions and the journey, while so rich with fulfillment, is just getting underway.
	TITLE  |  FOREWORD  |  BIOGRAPHY