Paul Moschell

As a child, Indiana-based artist Paul Moschell, knew exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. When questioned by his grade-school teacher, Moschell did not hesitate in answering, "A mermaid." Yet when said teacher informed him that was not a possibility, Moschell then decided to become an artist. If the fantastic world he aspired to live in did not exist, he would create his own in high-pigment watercolor on archival paper and happily reside there. Moschell finds solidarity in his portraits of obscure and despondent people. "I didn't make friends well as a child," says Moschell, 36, of growing up in a traditional family with a minister father. "I drew on my folders [in school] all the time. That's where I made my friends ... They come from my imagination." And much like true friends, Moschell sees his imaginative depictions as live entities that both accept and support him: "My portraits are odd and lonely and beautiful ...When I wake up, the first thing I do is go to my studio space to revisit what consumed me the night before. [My paintings] are always there. They challenge me to be better and accept me as a beautiful creature, as I accept them." Moschell admits to not readily engaging the world outside his studio. "I have no interest in dealing with reality," he says. A full time artist, when not painting Moschell spends time the majority of his free time, "eating and taking naps."

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