Paul Cadden Hyperrealistic Drawings

Paul Cadden is a Scottish-born hyperrealist artist who creates painfully realistic artworks using only graphite and chalk.

I find myself fascinated by the way we are manipulated through the media, by the use of arguments that favour their particular interests, the suppression of information or points of view by crowding them out, by inducing other people or groups of people to stop listening to certain arguments,or by simply diverting attention elsewhere. Which ultimately leads to personal cynicism and alienation.

I think the creation of Art need not lead to alienation and can, indeed, be highly satisfying: one pours one’s subjectivity into an object and one can even gain enjoyment from the fact that another in turn gains enjoyment from it “the personal is the political”

Although the drawings and paintings I make are based upon a series of photographs video stills etc, The art created from the photo is used to create a softer and much more complex focus on the subject depicted, presenting it as a living tangible object. These objects and scenes in my drawings are meticulously detailed to create the illusion of a new reality not seen in the original photo.