Young UBC Artist Paints Peace
ARASH SHAUL, THe Ubyssey (UBC)
When, in 2005, on the eve of his first art exhibit, Paul Curran walked into the gallery, he noticed something very crucial missing — the paintings. His paintings were already sold, packaged, and delivered to their new owners.
“My agent was so excited with the pricey offers coming in, he totally forgot to hold onto them for the show,” says Curran jovially. “He sold every single one, it was a disaster!”
Many 19-year-old aspiring artists would give an arm for this “disaster.” But Curran is an artist of another kind, one who sees art not as a commodity but a mission.
“All I want in life is to bring people together,” says Curran. “Everything I paint is about that.” On October 16th, only two years after his first show, Paul held the 18th exhibit of his artwork, at Yaletown Brewing Company. No paintings missing. Plenty of people were brought together.
A fourth-year psychology and art history major at UBC, Curran jokes that most of his formal education at UBC so far has been of little value. He quickly adds, “Seriously though, one of the best experiences in my life was taking a course in post-modern Chinese art.”
The course was influential for Curran because it helped him forge his own unique style of art — painting connected with storytelling.
“Every painting of mine has a story,” he says. He points to a painting titled “The Great Florence Cathedral,” an intricate portrayal of the historic synagogue of Florence. “During World War II, the Nazis used this synagogue as a weapon storage depot,” he says as he recounts the bittersweet history of the synagogue and of its eventual reconstruction after the war. “But everything turns out well,” Curran concludes with a smile, “and I hope to visit it someday.”
Curran began drawing when he was barely five years old. “We didn’t have any television at home because my father thought it was a bad idea,” he remembers. To pass time, he started drawing and quickly fell in love with it. His painting style evolved from elegant jazz portraits to commanding black-and-white cityscapes, but one thing never changed — his passion to use his art to “bring people together.”
“One of my ideas is to build a restaurant where half the tables have only salt shakers, and the other half only pepper,” he says. “That way people will be forced to come out of their shells, talk and mingle.”
Curran, himself, goes out of his way to promote harmony and understanding among people. He actively participates in student life at UBC. He is a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity. He is also a prominent member of the Israel Awareness Club — a club dedicated to broadening understanding and appreciation of Israeli society at UBC. Earlier this year, he painted a portrait of Yitzhak Rabin, the late Israeli prime minister awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his peace initiatives with the Palestinians. The portrait will be displayed during the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Day, an annual event the Israel Awareness Club holds to support peace in the Middle East, at the SUB each November.
When asked if he believes peace in the Middle East is possible, he answers, “Well, that’s how I’d like the story to end.”
A collection of Curran’s paintings can be seen at his website www.paulcurranart.com.
