Paul Fenniak

Paul Fenniak paints figures in contemporary, often unremarkable settings, with slight distortions in lighting and perspective, mysterious objects, and visual clues that charge his canvases with dramatic tension. Fenniak’s figures are often frozen in transitional poses or engaged in activities that denote psychological suspense and imply a larger narrative. In Encounter (2008–09), a man and woman, immersed in non-naturalistic lighting that emanates from different directions, embrace by the seaside while clutching metal detectors, their expressions and body language an ambiguous mix of intimacy and melancholy. Worked in a cool palette of oil paints, Fenniak’s paintings have prompted comparisons with those of Lucian Freud, while their sense of foreboding has been likened to the works of George Tooker.