Once again, Saatchi Art - one of the world's leading online galleries - has announced its Rising Stars list. Put together by the gallery's curators, this list showcases 27 emerging artists and up and coming talents from 13 countries - and Essex artist Preston Paperboy has made the cut. Here's what we know...
Preston Paperboy’s paintings fuse fragmented, realist figures with expressionist mark-making to challenge traditional representations of the human form.
Peppered with brand logos and pop cultural references, these mixed-media works reflect on the complexity of the self against a postmodern backdrop.
He sites Basquiat, Matisse, Banksy and Cy Twombly as creative influences, and blends phot-realism with expressionism to create chaotic images that depict the gamut of human emotions.
Before turning his hand to art, Preston Paperboy studied architecture at Brighton University. He has since developed a prolific fine art practice, with all of his paintings stamped with his distinct “Smiler” logo—a frowning face with dollar sign eyes that is both autobiographical and critical of our consumer culture.
Preston Paperboy presented his first solo show at the Wall Friends at Belhaus in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2021.
He has also participated in several group exhibitions at the Marcel Marcel Katz Art Gallery in Miami and the ABV Gallery in Atlanta, and his work was featured in an interview with Forbes magazine.
Find him on Instagram here.
