Paul Cadden maintains that hyperrealist pencil drawings are about more than representing reality in a new medium. It is, instead, about creating the illusion of a new reality - one that merges a believable, life-like appearance with emotional, social, cultural, and political themes. In his own words, his creations "intensify the normal”, and he does this to great effect in his arrestingly exquisite pencil drawings.

At the heart of Paul Cadden’s new collection of drawings lay the mystery of identity, our place in the landscape and how we can connect to one another; says Paul:

“The drawings I create invites the viewer to observe the world in which we inhabit and in doing so, question whether we take the time to appreciate what we see around us.

My hopes through my art are to transport the viewer into another space which is always there but on reflection, is often missed. Through an accurate representation of 'reality' I aspire to give the viewer a new emotional perspective in which we can appreciate an affinity for everyday situations as we deal exclusively with how people appear but people are more than what they look like...

Although the drawings and paintings I make are based upon a series of photographs or video stills, I use softer and more complex focuses on the subject so that the resulting art presents it as a living, tangible being. These objects and scenes in my drawings are thus meticulously detailed to create the illusion of a new reality not seen in the original photo."