“Paul P.’s work conflates memory, ecstasy, and loss, adolescence and decadence, ripe beauty and its inevitable rot.” —Vince Aletti

Published with Greene Naftali and Maureen Paley.

Toronto-based artist Paul P.’s (born 1977) work puts the viewer on intimate terms with the codes of queer representation. P. emerged in the early 2000s as a leading artist of his generation, forging what critic Johanna Fateman calls a “libidinal-conceptual practice” anchored in the archive. This self-titled monograph pairs his jewel-toned portraits (sourced from a cache of 1970s gay erotica) with other recurring motifs: sculptures in the form of furniture, architectural abstractions and atmospheric near-monochromes—some flecked with images of bats in flight, a potent symbol of transience and desire.