Paul Smith
Paul is interested in our perception of the animal kingdom, told through fairytale and fable, art, books and film, rather than realistic depiction. A big influence on his work has been Angela Carter who wrote several short stories and novels on the theme of fairytales, “The Company of Wolves” and “The Bloody Chamber” being among the most famous. She tells tales of transformation, wonder and strangeness but, however dark the stories are, there is, more often than not, a redemptive ending. He uses children’s stories as the vehicle to explore, in terms of adult-oriented concerns, the universal themes raised; love and jealousy, duplicity and trust.