Paul Andrew

Author: Paul Andrew

Paul Andrew has been a practicing and exhibiting artist since 1984 in media including painting, photocopy, photography, media, super 8 film making, video, installation and artist-run culture. The subject keywords for his diverse practice spanning three decades includes: Quotidian, Polyvalence, Queer Theory, Queer Activism, Male Violence, Gender Studies, Post-Colonial Studies, Homophobia, HIV/AIDS, Artist Collaboration, Artist-Run Culture, Self-Publishing, DIY, The Archival Impulse, Walking, Nature, Environmental Activism, Digital Analogues, Friendship, Documentary, Peace and Non-Violence. The archival impulse of his life’s work stems largely from his discontent about the significant absence of queer arts and culture histories in Australia while making documentaries, community service announcements and video art in Sydney from 1990 -2001 at the height of the HIV AIDS pandemic. Since his 1987 collaborative exhibition Sex/Object with artists Angelina Martinez and Martyn Sommer he has worked with neglected queer histories across various platforms and in recent years after relocating to the Northern Rivers region he has extended this archival impulse into other visual arts subjects and platforms. Based in Brisbane until 1989 before leaving Queensland during what he describes as “the oppressive Bjelke Peterson regime” he moved to Sydney for work as a curator at The Australian Centre For Photography. In Brisbane he was an active participant and co-ordinator of Artist-Run Culture in diverse Queensland-based artist-run spaces. These ARIs included F. Art, That Contemporary Art Space, That Annexe, Axis Art Projects, Bureau and Breathing Concrete. During this time his attention was on young people’s agency and he worked passionately as an art history student, curator, artist, arts writer, arts administrator, queer activist, filmmaker, community broadcaster, moral rights/infrastructural activist. His enthusiasm for collaboration and community contributions methodologies employed during this period has developed over time and remains a particularly useful model for him now in today’s open source and creative commons zeitgeist. In 2012 he began a social media group for researching and developing a public archive, oral history and artist interviews site dedicated to mapping the heritage and neglected histories of diverse 1980-2000 Artist-Run Culture in Brisbane and Queensland.