Since the mid 1990s Paul has produced two dimensional works that could be broadly typified as an exploration of issues relating to spatiality. One way in which he has considered this has been to employ geometrically shaped canvasses as a means of activating his works within real space. In early 2010 the surface of his works also started to function as a more non-hierarchical field. At about the same time there was also a shift towards greater consideration for what existed outside the limit of the painting or traditional frame “where what is internal to the frame discovers a relation to what is external to it in such a way as to open it up to the outside”. Moreover this concern was linked to an interest in negative space but especially ‘Ma’ - a Japanese concept used to describe the affirmative use of negative space - a key visual element in oriental design. His intention has, in part, been to encourage one to ‘see’ something that is not there, something he describes as ‘a space open to becoming’ – while, at the same time, making what is there transcend it objectness. In many respects this aim has also been an attempt to counter the perception of the limit of the work as the whole – thus challenging Judd’s assertion that ‘the edges of the rectangle are a boundary, the end of the picture’.
