About me

My name is Paul Doeman. I was born in West London.

Studied:

Chelsea School of art & Design ( Foundation course). West Surrey institute of Art & Design (BA (hons) Art & Design). Westminster University (MSc eBusiness)

Why do I make art?

Pictures of me drawing

I've been making some kind of art since I was about 7 years old. Initially I copied pictures from comic and natural history books. At the age of 14 my uncle started taking me to life classes at my local secondary school, this lead to me exhibiting photo-realistic pencil drawings at local art fares, where I first sold my art work.

I got into Chelsea college of Art & Design for a years foundation course, I went on to start a fine art degree course at the West Surrey Institute of Art & Design, which I finished in the Summer of '97. Since finishing my Degree I have continued to create artworks and exhibit when I can.

To see when I am next exhibiting look at my exhibitions page.

Approach to my work

I aim to have an open-minded approach to the creation of art, I keep looking for new ideas and influences.

Influences & interests

I'm influenced by the music I listen to, advertising I see all around me and other art that I see; all forms of visual communication influence me.
I'm very interested in visual communication, I research subjects surrounding semiotics and cognition. I'm interested in how we understand things, how that process of understanding can be influenced and employed through art.

Naturalism

I don't have a belief in the supernatural, I've been that way since I was a teenager, the most relevant area of philosophy for my outlook on life is called naturalism.

Naturalism

Whilst I have no belief in a god using the term 'atheist' is fraught with practical problems as most people don't really understand what it means.
There are many things in which I do not believe, including ghosts, souls, witches, unicorns and other supernatural entities. I do not feel the need to define myself in terms of an absence of a belief in their existence, so why do I feel the need to define myself in terms of an absence of belief in gods?

For me there is already ample evidence in our world to describe the forces for 'moral' acts, the reasons for our existence and how life began. I have an interest in religion for many reasons, which include a concern that religion gets respect in our societies almost without question, I think that is dangerous for both the religious and the societies they inhabit.

I can also see how religion has and is becoming entwined with politics and that, I think, is also very dangerous.

I discuss my ideas in greater depth on YouTube.

Why are we the way that we are?

If you want to ask questions about why we and the world are the way we are I suggest you investigate subjects like: Evolutionary psychology, Sociobiology, Cognition, Behavioral genetics, Ethology, Evolutionary developmental psychology and Quantum mechanics.
Huge leaps forward have been made in the last 40 years to understand why humans and our reality is the way it is; it is all dependent upon the physical world, in fact if there were such a thing as a god it seems it wouldn't have anything to do, which is rather a pitiful existence.