After various stints in theater/film acting and Retail Hell.. I finally made the decision to devote myself to my natural talent of visual arts. For the first few years, I did illustrations for local papers(Citylife), websites, set design, and the occasional private comission. But after seeing a video on the life & work of Pablo Picasso, I finally decided to make the jump into painting and the so-called 'fine arts'. Though I feel I've just gotten started, I've already been included in a number of museum & gallery shows. So I must be doing something 'ok' ..Then again, this is the same business that has considered such things as sharks in formaldehyde, floating glowing basketballs, decapitated heads, sawed cows, and giant blow-up dolls to be art... so who can really say?
To sum up, I look forward to the path ahead, and all the interesting people and places I will meet and see along the way. It's been fun so far! ~ Paul Shortall
"Painting isn't an aesthetic operation; it's a form of magic designed as a mediator between this strange, hostile world and us, a way of seizing the power by giving form to our terrors as well as our desires.
When I came to that realization, I knew I had found my way." ~ Pablo Picasso
"In order to acquire a growing and lasting respect in society, it is a good thing, if you possess great talent, to give, early in your youth, a very hard kick to the right shin of the society that you love. After that, be a snob." ~ Salvador Dali
"What is a television apparatus to man, who has only to shut his eyes to see the most inaccesible regions of the seen and the never seen, who has only to imagine in order to pierce through walls and cause all the planetary Baghdads of his dreams to rise from the dust." ~ Salvador Dali
"When you have something to say, to express, any form of submission becomes unbearable in the long run. You have to have the courage of your vocation and the courage to live by that vocation. The "second profession" is a trap! I was often penniless myself, but I always resisted any temptation to live by any other means other than my painting." ~ Pablo Picasso
"In my experience, those who do not like you fall into two categories: The stupid and the envious. The stupid will like you in five years time. The envious, never." ~ John Wilmot
"Style is besides the point. Nobody would pay attention if one always said the same thing, in the same words and the same tone of voice." ~ Pablo Picasso
"Let my enemies devour eachother.." ~ Salvador Dali
"Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art." ~ Andy Warhol
"You can't expect to win by taking the advice or emulating the actions of those that lost." ~ ShorTall
"It is your work in life that is the ultimate seduction." ~ Pablo Picasso
"Think Big and Kick Ass!" ~ D. Trump
