Paul Raymond

PAUL RAYMOND

Artist-in-residence September 2022 - July 2023 

Exhibition: BLOBBY, BLOBBY, BLOBBY!!! / Dead Dog Gallery October 2024

Paul Raymond is an artist and arts educator based in the North East of England. He uses a variety of media and explores themes of nostalgia, hauntology, temporality, play and regression through his work.   

He has exhibited nationally, including group exhibitions at the Baltic, Gateshead (2021); Freelands Foundation, London (2021); FAB, Bath (2022); Two Queens, Leicester (2023) and RePUBlic Gallery, Blyth (2023).

His exhibition was inspired by the derogatory term, ‘The Blob’, popularised by Michael Gove during his role as Secretary of State for Education. Gove used this term (based on the 1958 sci-fi horror film) to deride academics, teachers and teaching unions who stood in the way of his teaching reforms.

BLOBBY, BLOBBY, BLOBBY!!! Reflected a society (and an educational system) haunted by the past and arguably obsessed with repetition, pastiche and infantilisation. Raymond  expanded upon methodologies used during his Freelands Foundation MAKE residency in 2021, allowing his interactions with materials to shape and develop ideas. He aimed to harness the powerful and chaotic force of ‘The Blob’ as a way of counteracting the rigid systems in which we operate.

See his work on Instagram:

@raymondterrific