//Artist Bio

(b. 1980) lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa.

Paul Senyol is an abstract painter who reflects the details of everyday life, paired down to an empathy with colour, line and form. His work is a crafted response to his wonderings through various spaces. The colours and textures of urban and natural environments inform his spontaneous practice in the studio where every material he uses – acrylics, pastels, ink, pencils and spray paint - is chosen for the particular mark it can contribute to a finished composition. Senyol has been studying art and the mark since his fascination with skateboarding magazines as a teenager in Cape Town. Skateboarding emerged as a gateway to early creative works on the street and remains an important part of Senyol’s experience of urban spaces. He makes regular visits to the public library to source graphics, album covers, magazine layouts and illustrations. Senyol’s unique visual language is founded on the inevitable change and flux in environments. His works are testament to the translation of experiences into form.

// Collections

Paul’s work can be found in the corporate collections of Spier, ABSA and PWC.

// Selected exhibitions, residencies, awards and projects

2024 - Xmas In July, 131 A Gallery, Cape Town

An Ode To Autumn, 131 A Gallery, Cape Town

Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Barnard Gallery, Cape Town

2023 - Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Barnard Gallery, Cape Town

Send My Love, solo exhibition, Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Cape Town

Kindest Regards, solo exhibition, Shay Hewett Contemporary, Mauritius

Fine Art x Design Expo, group presentation, The Hive, Mauritius

2022 - Of Place and Time, solo exhibition, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town

Painter, Painter!, group exhibition, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town

The Sixth Sense, group exhibition, Shay Hewett Fine Art Gallery, Mauritius

2021 - Urban Art, group exhibition, Rust en Vrede Gallery, Cape Town

As Far as Forever Will Take Us, trio exhibition (w Keya Tama & Elena Lourens), Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

In Conversation, group exhibition, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town

To Whom it May Concern, group exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Biophilia, group exhibition, Cavalli Gallery, Cape Town

Transept, group exhibition, Christ Church, Cape Town

2020 - Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

The Grand, group exhibition, Rust en Vrede Gallery, Cape Town

Memorial, solo exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

A Hazy Shade of Winter, group exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

RMB Turbine Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Johannesburg

Home is Where the Art is, group exhibition, Zeitz Moca, Cape Town

2019 – Wildflowers, end-of-year group salon in aid of Ilitha Labantu, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Sydney

Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Regarding Winter, group exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Markers, solo exhibition, David Krut, Johannesburg

The Distance from Afar, group exhibition, Glen Carlou gallery, Paarl.

2018 – Recollectionary, solo exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Folklore, group exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

RMB Turbine Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Johannesburg

FNB Joburg Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Johannesburg

Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Salon Ninety One

2017 – Trees Make Forests, group exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Simulacrum, group show, Gallery2, Johannesburg

Mural participant, International Public Arts Festival, Cape Town

Fathoms, duo exhibition with Linsey Levendall, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Turbine Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Johannesburg

FNB Joburg Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Johannesburg

Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

2016 – Kindle, solo exhibition, Gallery2, Johannesburg

Oracle, group exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Inhabitant, solo exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Turbine Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Johannesburg

Cape Town Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Paper Is You III, group exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

2015 – Every Idle Word, solo exhibition, Gallery2, Johannesburg

This is the Place, group exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Top 10 Finalist exhibition, Barclays L’Atelier Polynesia

Duo exhibition with Cathy Layzell, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Cape Town Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

2014 – Cape Town Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Turbine Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Johannesburg

Odd Traditions, duo exhibition with Pierre Le Riche, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Paper is You II, group exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Artist-in-residence, Arteles Creative Centre, Finland

Artist-in-residence, Neustadt Symposium, Germany

2013 – Cape Town Art Fair with Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

A Vacant Passage, duo exhibition with Andrzej Urbanski, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

ABSA L’Atelier Top 100 Finalist

2012 – The Man of Dust, solo exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Gather, duo exhibition with Augustine Kofie, Lovell Gallery, Cape Town

2011 – Paper Is You, group exhibition, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town

Artist-in-residence, 6511 Miles Project, Pro-Artibus Residency, Finland

Urban Aesthetic, group exhibition, Worldart Gallery, Cape Town

Broadcasts, KZNSA Gallery, Durban

2010 - Stroke 03 Urban Art Fair with A Word of Art Gallery, Berlin

2008 – Under These Skies, duo exhibition with Wesley Van Eeden, Salon Ninety One, Cape Town