About the work

Westcombe's recent work deals with the fantasy world of the imagination and mines the expressive power of human desire as a means to alleviate boredom and confinement (one of Westcombe's projects was started as a way to relieve the tedium of 12-hour shifts working as a car park attendant). Westcombe believes that this capacity to construct the grotesque and the phantasmagorical in moments of sensory deprivation is a complex part of human desire.

His intricate pen and ink drawings on used coffee cups form part of a decentred practice. These images are drawn from his imagination as well as a range of other sources and also manifest themselves across large paintings on paper, used domestic objects such as batteries, mops and Underground Travelcard receipts, and expansive wall painting installations involving the surrounding architectural elements.

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About the artist

Paul Westcombe was born in Inverness in 1981. He graduated with an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2007 and with a BA in Painting from Gray's School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, in 2003.

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Selected exhibitions

Recent solo exhibitions include The Symbols Pursue Me, The Cooperative, Liverpool Biennial, 2010 and Just Food for the Midgies, Project Space, Jerwood Space, London, 2009. Recent group exhibitions include Power of Paper, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2012; The RSA 186th Annual Exhibition, RoyalScottish Academy, Edinburgh, 2012; Condensation, Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London 2011 and Bloomberg New Contemporaries, A Foundation, Liverpool and Club Row, RochelleSchool, London, 2008. Westcombe won the RSA William Littlejohn Award for Excellence and Innovation in Water-Based Media in 2011; was awarded the HI-Arts Development Award in 2011 and was selected for the Jerwood Drawing Prize exhibition in 2007. His works are held in the collections of The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh; Royal College of Art, London; Jean-Michel Timsit and Saatchi Gallery, London.

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Whitechapel Gallery editions are generously donated by the artists. All proceeds from the sale of these works directly support our exhibition and education programmes. As is traditional in editions publishing, prices will rise as an edition starts to sell out.