All about me!
Paula Sigley's creations are instantly recognisable, with her vibrant unique self taught style. Her work is biographical with a sense of empathy and
fun all rolled into one.
Her earlier work concentrated on the female experience of pregnancy and motherhood with strong goddess imagery such as her 1998 oil painting
'Cians gestation'. Around this period in her life she began making sculpture.
Living in Brighton, a predominantly student city on the south coast of England, she would regularly come across discarded furniture on the street. loathing waste, she would take them in and change their lives.
Having no budget and no formal training, just a determination to create characters from old chairs, lamp stands and mannequins. Her medium was newspaper that she collected for free from a local recycling centre.
Her work was so unique that she was asked to create her first exhibition of work for 'The Brighton Fringe Festival' in 1998.
Paula created a womb room with an umbilical cord hanging from the ceiling connecting to birth related paintings and interactive sculpture. Her work was showcased on the CNN arts report showing the diversity of Brightons art scene.
In the following years Paula continued with her unique and sometimes controversial subjects to exhibit in the underground arts scene in predominantly London and Brighton.
After a chance meeting at a bus stop with the late great Gary DS of 2000DS fame and owner of Scrap records, her work would adorn many a punk gig in London alongside other artists and musicians from the underground DIY punk and Arts scene. In 2002 and 2004 she exhibited in the legendary 'Foundry' on Old Street in Shoreditch. Made famous by Bill Drummond (KLF and The K foundation) and frequented by artists such as Tracey Emin and Banksy.
Paulas atitude to exhibiting came from her DIY background. Unable to afford or be part of the elitist art scene, she created her own by squatting buildings and encouraging other artist and musicians to get involved in creating their own scene full of music art and performance made available to all.
Gaining a reputation for community arts events under the umbrella company 'Fishy eye arts' lead to work with Brighton council, local schools and diverse communities gaining several press and TV appearances over the years.
More recently, Paula was actively involved in helping to create the "Underground rogue open houses' in Brighton as a protest to the high costs implemented by The Brighton festival after the Fringe festival take over, meaning that many artist could not afford to get involved.
Politics, sexuality, gender and individuality are still high on Paulas creative agender to this day and remain a strong influence on her work.