Portrait of a supermodel, check. Award-winning album design,
check. GQ's seal of approval - obviously. So what else does
'dot' artist Paul Normansell think he needs to achieve? Pace.
When we featured a dot painting portrait of Kate Moss by
unknown artist Paul Normansell in the June 2008 edition of
British GQ, we could never have predicted that Brandon
Flowers would see the piece and commission him to design the cover
of the Killers' third album Day & Age. The
resulting cover was an instant classic; MTV voted
the sleeve best cover of the decade and Rolling Stone
called it the best album art of 2008.
Now regarded one of the most innovative young artists in
the world, Normansell returns to the UK in May with five
exhibitions to release limited edition prints of his most
recent work. Expected to sell out on the opening night,
part of the collectability of his work stems from the fact
that it takes him a month to finish each piece, working ten
hours a day."I've been trying to speed up the process for ten
years," confides Normansell. "But everything I've tried just
doesn't work in the same way.
"I created a technique that is so unique it has to be done
using a very fine brush. This helps me to create a perfect
likeness and because of the plastic finish of gloss and
the meticulous execution, the paintings are
almost doll-like in appearance.
"Having made his name depicting the great and the good, his
recent collection is more personal. "My new works are based
around a book called A Lover's Discourse," he says.
"I feel very lucky.It's really thanks to GQ's support
early in my career that I am in this position now."
It's our pleasure. The editor is looking forward to his
framed print.
James Mullinger
