News > INTRO: Paul Cristina

DISCOVERING TOP EMERGING ARTISTS

INTRO is a pop-up art exhibition that discovers works from top emerging artists. It’s no surprise that our current cover artist, Paul Cristina, is one of ten artists selected to discover. Each day we’ll announce a new artist participating in INTRO before the exhibition opening on March 23.

PAUL CRISTINA

‘Until Nothing Comes’ by Paul Cristina

What inspires you to create?

It’s strange to think about the different ways in which I can potentially answer this question. Creating—whether it be visual art, music, or a homemade container to store my toothbrush in—is simply done out of necessity, compulsion, and instinct. It’s been that way since I was a toddler. For me, it’s like asking someone what inspires them to take a shower. People don’t get inspired to take a shower; they do it because they have to, or due to an irresistible desire….because, at some point, not taking a shower makes you extremely uncomfortable. So it is with making art. It may be more accurate or beneficial to ask “where do you get ideas from?” I get ideas from life, film, music, conversation, people, observations, books, photographs, etc…and taking showers.

What story does your collective work tell?

Reconciling with life and being human, for all the good and the bad that it contains. Love, death, anxiety, happiness, anger, understanding, depression, fear, reconciliation, mortality—it’s all in there somewhere.

‘Plural Spaces’ by Paul Cristina

Do you have a motto or advice that you as an artist live by?

Do everything in your ability as a human being to not waste your life doing some shit that you don’t enjoy.

Why is it important for you as an artist to be living here in Charleston and the South?

I have a reasonably affordable studio here—that’s the main priority. While I’m here, I want to contribute whatever I can towards making an enormous impact on people’s lives through art and conversation.

‘The Child That Thought She Was Christ’ by Paul Cristina

Paul Cristina was born in the metropolitan area of Cleveland, OH in August of 1983. As a self-taught artist, he has continued to develop his creative sensibilities through the study of books, film, music, people, and photographic images. These sources of education continue to inform his work through the experimentation of various style and media. Cristina worked several years as a paramedic, which allowed for a stark insight and investigation into the often disturbing aspects of society and human behavior. This experience involuntarily contributes an emotional undercurrent to Cristina’s work and provides insight toward the underbelly of life as we know it. His work has been primarily exhibited throughout the North and Southeastern United States and is currently held in private collections internationally. In 2015, Cristina was the recipient of the First Place prize for Fine Art and Drawing in the North Charleston Arts Festival Juried Exhibition. He currently lives and works in Charleston, South Carolina.

INTRO: DISCOVER TOP EMERGING ARTISTS
Art Pop-Up March 23—31 | 535 King St, Charleston

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