Paul Hartel I think of my work as celebrating the spirit of the ‘inner child’ through an improvisational energy, retained in strokes, lines, and colors. I strive to create a visual immediacy that may be combatively intense, keeping the viewer’s eye in perpetual motion. I like to conceptualize my work as a bridge between fantasy and abstract reality that challenges our thoughts, perceptions, follies and wits. Originally from New York, I now live in Sligo Ireland. I paint with mixed media including oils, acrylics, oil pastels and charcoal, in figurative, abstract and neo-expressionist styles, with influences that include DeKooning, Mitchel, Kline, Twombly and Wool. I’ve exhibited and enjoyed representation by art galleries in New York City, Los Angeles, and Ireland with works currently in residence at Green Gallery, Dublin, Ireland.