Paul Loughney received his MFA in 2006 from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.


My collages inhabit a space between abstraction and figuration, anthropology and storytelling, cultural and personal myths: where belief mingles with magical thinking. Utilizing landscape and portrait as a point of departure, I consider it a type of visual anchor allowing me to pursue themes pervasive throughout my images: psychological, psychedelic, erotic undertones; trafficking in esoteric and occult symbols; the illusion of impossible situations. Simultaneous narratives are a desired result. I approach collage from an intuitive process, attempting to create images like visual hallucinations, a kind of delirium, all the while pursuing that intimate space between viewer and image, and creating an experience that rewards slow looking. It is important that the viewer knows the work is by hand. Contemporary magazines are my source material and are considered ‘anthropological document’ excavating necessary parts to breathe new life into such materials. I employ drawing, appropriation, and frottage which involves sanding - a gesture of revealing what’s beneath.

He has participated in solo and group shows nationally and internationally including at Lesley Heller Gallery, New York, NY; Vorderzimmer, Brooklyn, NY; Peter Freeman, Inc, New York, NY; Frosch & Portmann Gallery, New York, NY; La Fratirnidad, Mexico City, MX; Borowsky Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, GA; Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA; Kunsthochschule fur Medien, Cologne, Germany; and Subspace Gallery in Berlin.

His work can be found in the permanent collection of Nobel Collection in Zurich; Purdue University, Indiana; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, NJ; New York Public Library; and the Brodsky Center at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Lose Your Mind
Collage mounted on panel
24 x 20 x 1 inch, 2024