Artist Bio

Paul Clay is a visual artist whose work spans many different fields. His perspective comes from an interest in anthropology, contemporary media, and social change.

Solo exhibits include the following: Sketches and Memories, (synthesized compositions rendered later, upon the artists’ safe return home), Part of Peekskill Project V, The Arts Exchange, White Plains, NY, 2013; Representation, a Chronicle of the Essex Street Market, a public art project at the Essex Market in the Lower East Side, New York City, 2009; Writing By Cutting, Maxwell Fine Art, Peekskill, New York, NY, 2006; When We Came, The Hudson Valley Center For Contemporary Art, Peekskill New York, NY, 2004; You are Here, Diesel Denim Gallery Soho, New York, NY, 2003; future.surface.(Text)ure, Art in General – The Armory Show, New York, NY, 2003; Dis-Play The Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria, 2002; Dis-Play Magazin 4, Breganz, Austria, 2002;Fictive.Net/Porn The Point gallery, New York, NY, 2001; and Fictive Boutique Expo|Sure, Downtown Art Festival, LEVI’S, New York, NY, 1999.

Group exhibits include In Kritieke staat (In a Critical State), Het Kunstenlab (The Art lab), Deventer, the Netherlands, 2013; Index, Part of the Borimix Festival, CSV Center, New York, NY, 2012; Looking Into the Light, Culturefix, New York, NY, 2012; Operating System, Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery, New York, NY, 2012; Tell Me How You REALLY Feel: Diaristic Tendencies, The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY, 2012; The Un(Framed) Photograph, The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY, 2011; LUMEN 2011, Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island (COAHSI), Staten Island, NY, 2011; Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery Los Angeles, CA, 2011; Chain Letter, Samson Projects, Boston, MA, 2011; FlashLight, Nuit Blanche New York, in conjunction with the New Museum’s Festival of Ideas for the New City, New York, NY, 2011; Collaboration with Hahn Rowe, The Stone (music and performance venue), New York, NY, 2010; Studio Residency for New York City Arts Workers, Open House, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) Project Space, New York, NY, 2010; Anthropology: Revisited, Reinvented, Reinterpreted, Central Booking, Brooklyn, NY, 2009; Fusion Folks – Contemporary Art Exhibition, Bo-Pi-Liao Historic Center, Taipei City, Taiwan, 2009; Metro Poles, Art in Action, Bronx River Art Center, Bronx, NY, 2008; Meet Qute Heskin Contemporary SOHO gallery, New York, NY, 2007; Dumbo Art Center (dac) Art under the bridge festival, Brooklyn, NY, 2006; Form Through Light, Cairo Opera House Art Gallery, Cairo, Egypt, 2005; Peripheral City: City of Refuge, Chinatown, New York, NY, 2005; Une Promesse de Malheur, Galleria Arte de Mexico, Mexico City DF, Mexico, 2005; Word Wack, Maxwell Fine Art, Peekskill, NY, 2005; amBUSH, Van Brunt Gallery, New York, NY, 2004; Beautiful, Male, Objects, Sarah Nightingale Gallery, South Hampton, NY, 2004; Flock, Spire, Beacon, NY, 2004; and Selfish, Gallery 128, New York, NY, 2004.

Mr. Clay is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 1984; B.A., Anthropology; Cum Laude Graduate; Lambda Alpha, National Anthropology Honor Society; Dean’s List.

He has shown internationally, been interviewed on local television in New York, and has been reviewed in such publications as ARTnews, The New York Times, The London Times, Time Out (New York and London), The Guardian of London, Tema Celeste, Print, Zingmagazine, and NY ARTS magazine, and has also received numerous awards including the Municipal Arts Society Times Square Spectacular, Manchester Evening News Theatre Award, National Endowment for the Arts/ TCG Fellow, Drama Desk, and Bessie award.

Mr. Clay is also an award winning designer in both the theater and architectural communities, is a founding member of the Artists Alliance, and the founder of Cuchifritos art gallery. Mr. Clay designed the set for the Pulitzer prize winning Broadway Musical Rent, 1997. He has been a featured speaker at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the Dumbo Arts Center Professional Artist Development Series.