Pars European Art Exhibition

A free footballing art exhibition is coming to The Purvis Suite ahead of the Morton match on Saturday 6th November.

Paul Town Stadium Artist is coming to East End Park on Saturday 6th November as Dunfermline take on Greenock Morton on to unveil a new trilogy of paintings telling the story of the Pars greatest European ties. The exhibition was originally scheduled for 2020 by Dunfermline diehards Donald Adamson and Kenny Mclachlan. They’ve both known Paul for a number of years and had this event organised before the pandemic took over our lives!

The original artworks of the European Trilogy, kindly loaned back for the day by their new owners, will be on display in the Purvis Suite, with a public viewing available between 10.30am-11.30am. Jim Leishman will also have Paul up to discuss the pieces with our guests in hospitality.

The European Trilogy consists of artwork Paul created that capture three of Dunfermline’s legendary ties in the 1960s, namely against Everton, Valencia and Slovan Bratislava. As well as the trilogy, Paul has created a number of Dunfermline paintings over recent years, including images of Norrie McCathie, the cup win over Rangers in 1988 and a 3D shirt marking Roy Barry captaining the club to cup victory in 1968.

Paul is no stranger to East End Park. It’s only five years ago that the Bradford born stadium artist visited Dunfermline to present a portrait to the club commissioned by Pars fanatic Kenny Mitchell. This enabled Paul to build up a reputation for his work amongst Pars supporters bringing more of those commissions to paint our lovable ground from various angles over a selection of decades. He has also helped the club by producing several pieces which have been auctioned to raise funds.

Paul’s fascination with football stadiums dates back almost 40 years when he first read the football grounds book written by Simon Ingles. A few years on Paul’s life took a twist he’d rather forget, however the experiences of escaping the Valley Parade Fire disaster alongside his dad Barry, left emotional scars which are embedded within to this day.

Paul said “ I’ve struggled to come to terms with what happened nearly 35 years ago. Yes me and dad we’re lucky to escape within seconds of something more serious, but seeing what I saw as a naive teenager will live with me forever. In later life I needed an hobby to take my mind off things as I’d become unwell. I turned to Art as I’d always been interested in the subject quite passionately. My parents had gifted me a set of artists paints for Christmas so the most natural thing for me to paint was a football stadium”

Through social media outlets orders and commissioned from all parts of the UK started to flood in, so much so Paul broke away from his job in construction to become a full-time artist just 3 years later. Paul’s early works were talked about with great similarities to LS Lowry as they had a real northern flavour in both content and colour. Paul is a product of his early life and upbringing working within and around the cities of his industrial homeland.

“The perfect stadium portrait for me is when I can bring the external landscape into view. If I can paint a mill or a chimney in the distance it gives me so much more pleasure as it reminds me of my youth”

Paul’s unique story and skills have seen him gain a valuable client list on a global scale with his original oils hanging in homes in USA, Australia, the Middle East and of course the European Continent. However Paul has a huge interest in the Scottish football scene and has created paintings capturing many of the traditional grounds from across the nation.

The exhibition is free of charge and we would strongly recommend it is worth a visit ahead of the next home match. We look forward to seeing you there.