Paul Buckley, abstract artist, sculptor, and art collector extradinaire

The other day, I wrote about a visit to Laurie Burton's studio, which was sweet, as was she. But, Laurie is only one of many local super cool and very talented art folks in our Golden Triangle region.  This place is littered with talent. I have a theory that if you knocked on any random door, you would likely find a person who has some sort of artistic, musical, or literary talent. Amazing.

After we left Laurie's, I dropped Joseph off somewhere and headed home. I ending taking a different route home due to where I dropped him off. I realized that this route would take me right past the home of Paul Buckley. So, what the heck, I called him and asked if I could stop by and check out his studio and art. No notice or anything, other than about 3 minutes. Paul answered the phone and was like, "man, come on over..." Three minutes later, I was parked in front of Paul's awesome cabin like home. The place is set in the woods and has a porch completely surrounding it!

Paul is a scientist by day, but the rest of the time, he is an artist. He paints, he sculpts, he creates amazing assemblages from found objects, and creates various other types of art. Paul also loves art and collects a bunch of it. His house is its own unique art gallery. In fact, we don't have a local gallery that would come close to what he has in his home! Great artist and great supporter of the arts.

Cool sculpture on Paul's porch done by another artist

some of Paul's acquisitions

Paul's place is almost overwhelming. Its so full of art, you don't know where to begin. Simply amazing.  Colorful 2D images, cool sculptures with lots of nice vertical elements, things hanging from the ceiling, stained glass, bits of random pieces of "junk" that are now part of the show and/or destined to become a part of some piece of artwork, and colorful photographs laying about. When I arrived, he had some trippy music playing in the background. Man, this place! Freakin awesome. An artist's and art lover's paradise.

A view of the main living area, with artwork everywhere.

If you don't know Paul, you should find a way to meet him. This guy, I don't know, sixty something years old, is like a hyper mountain goat or something. Moving all the time, thinking, creating, wishing he had a thousand more years to create. I tried to take a picture of this trippy mugg, but was able to only get a somewhat blurry image, because he is always in movement! 

Paul on his deck

Looking at Paul's works reveals his passion for art. He pours his soul into his work. If you really look at his work, you can see his ups and downs in life. And this guy is a manic artist for sure. Although he sells his fair share of paintings, he has stacks of new ones ready to go. 

Paul's studio, with his works on the walls

Paul's abstract paintings are full of passion, intensity, and energy! Color! Movement! It is easy to picture this skinny, bearded joker in his element slamming down paint, expressing his innermost emotions while listening to wonderful music. Beautiful! His 3D pieces are equally fascinating. Many of these are assemblages are made of found or junk material. Sometimes, the components of his pieces have significant personal meaning to him. I won't elaborate to what those meanings may be, but they are ever present. Here is a nice example of one of these pieces. 

One of Paul's sculptures

As of late, Paul has been working on collaborative projects with some other local artists including the likes of Patrick Tranum and Libby Pollard. He showed me a mosaic piece that he and Libby had done together, and a large 3D sculpture collab that he and Patrick had completed. Hopefully, I can do an collaboration of some type with him one day. 

Paul uses any method possible to get his artistic thoughts down. I noticed several really cool pieces that were combinations of painting and collage. Very effective pieces. Here is one below.  

One of Paul's collages

Man, what an awesome Saturday afternoon of art in Starkville! Yeah, I guess I could have driven to New Orleans or Memphis and visited some crazy art gallery, but it sure was nice to find this kind of talent and passion right here in Starkville!