Fish Factory

Paul Belenky lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Brandeis University in 2014 with dual bachelor’s degrees in biology and studio art. He completed his MFA at MassArt in 2017 and spent the next two years teaching visual art in elementary school. Paul lives life in the pursuit of a state of a specific kind of “trolling” surreality because to him, absurdity and play often approach the truth more closely than reality. Paul works in installation, drawing, and sculpture, and aspires to make work that draws both smiles and grimaces.

While at the Fish Factory Paul explored a variety of mediums and process and used the time to research new ideas and motifs to inspire his practice going forward. Paul worked with blueprints found during a previous residency. Drawing false stupid ideas about reinserting chickens into eggs or recycling sausages into pigs over the original designs, Paul would imagine humour and absurdity in the normally mundane technical drawings. Using industrial leftovers from the Fish Factory and on occasion also some leftover fish, Paul would also build mock machines inspired by the blueprint drawings.

Using the time, space and facilities provided by residency Paul also experiment with collagraph printmaking on paper and ceramics, creating a series of prints and tiles inspired by Iceland’s most famous food mascot, the bonus pig. In his first month in the residency, Paul also worked with fellow resident Elle Dioguardi on a collaborative sculpture made from found objects in the factory.

// More of Paul’s work //
https://www.paulbelenky.com/

Check out the interview here: