Paul Andrew has been a practicing and exhibiting artist since 1984 in diverse media including painting, photography, media, super 8 filmmaking, video art, installation and artist-run culture.
The subject keywords for his practice spanning three decades includes: Polyvalence, Queer Theory, Queer Activism, 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, Documentary.
The archival impulse of his 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 in 1990 at the height of the HIV AIDS pandemic.
Since 1990 he has worked with neglected queer histories across various platforms and 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 That 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 a curator, artist books maker, designer, 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 in today’s multiplatform/transmedia, open source, social media environment.
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 neglected histories of 1980-2000 Artist-Run Culture in Brisbane and Queensland.
- Writers:
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- Date written:
- 2015
- Last updated:
- 2015
