About
Born in New York City, Weissman entered Yale to be an oceanographer but exited with a BA in Sociology/Creative Writing. After time writing in San Francisco, his love of drawing led him to the Southern California Institute of Architecture/Los Angeles, a B.Arch. and M.Arch., and a move back to New York City to practice. In 1992 economics and wanderlust moved his practice to Kauai. A 2003 decision to take a one- or two-year sabbatical, and pursue a long-time dream of art school, turned into three-and-a-half years at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, classes turned into a residency, and student critiques turned into gallery shows. He currently works at both his home studio and the Honolulu Printmakers. He has exhibited in museums and galleries in New York City, Los Angeles, and throughout Hawaii.
Hebrew Union Colllege-JIR Gallery 2014
Though greatly enamored of the immediacy of painting, it was the physicality and processes of printmaking that captured him. Stone lithography in particular - the weight and coolness of the stone, the alchemical qualities of turning scratches and marks on stone into images pulled from pools of ink and water, the forces of the hand press - became his favored medium of expression.
While searching for a way to loosen up his tight maniere-noire lithographs, he began to experiment with large woodcuts of images related to ecological disasters, seeing a correlation between the woodcut’s broad, bold strokes and the magnitude of these disasters’ impact. This resulted in the work 26 April 86 + 17, the depiction of the Strontium-90 dust cloud after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, followed by Carbo, dealing with fossil fuels and rising sea levels. Inspired by Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table, the elemental aspect of these two pieces led to Weissman’s decision to continue examining man’s relationship to the elements - the basic building blocks of the universe - as a series, to reflect upon, and question, prevalent values and conditions.
Individual and societal relationships, with each other and the planet, fuel the narratives, while exploring how process and image interact to create meaning. Juxtaposing images and metaphors, the general and the specific, pictorial illusion against elements in real scale, Weissman’s works are built out of layers of different printmaking techniques, colors, and textures to create visually rich surfaces, to draw the viewer in, as well as to articulate the complexity of the subjects and world. The resulting images aim at a visceral response, a pause, to then think and reflect.
Awards:
2016 Klaus Wyrtki Art and Science Award Honolulu Printmakers 88th Annual Exhibition
2015 2015 Gift Print Artist Honolulu Printmakers 87th Annual Exhibition
2014 John Chin Young Foundation Award for Lithography Honolulu Printmakers 86h Annual Exhibition
2011 John Chin Young Foundation Award for Lithography Honolulu Printmakers 83rd Annual Exhibition
Hawaii SFCA Recognition Award Honolulu Printmakers 83rd Annual Exhibition
2010 Honolulu Printmakers Award for Excellence Honolulu Printmakers 82nd Annual Exhibition
2009 John Chin Young Foundation Award for Lithography Honolulu Printmakers 81st Annual Exhibition
2006 John Chin Young Foundation Award for Lithography Honolulu Printmakers 78th Annual Exhibition
2002 Honorable Mention Kauai Society of Artists Small Works Show
Exhibitions:
2020 Honolulu Printmakers 92nd Annual Exhibition (juried) HMA Museum School, Honolulu, HI
Where Science & Art Meet (portfolio) Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI
2019 Relative Relations (group) Hebrew Union College-Heller Museum, NY, NY
2018 Honolulu Printmakers 90th Annual Exhibition (juried) HMA Museum School, Honolulu, HI
Terra (in)Firma (group) Hebrew Union College-Heller Museum, NY, NY
2017 ArtSci (portfolio) Volcano Art Center, Volcano, HI Hamilton Library, UH-Manoa, Honolulu, HI
HOME(less) (group) Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York, NY2017
2016 Honolulu Printmakers 88th Annual Exhibition (juried) HMA Museum School, Honolulu, HI ArtSci (portfolio) HMA Museum School, Honolulu, HI
Paint By Numbers (group) Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York, NY
2015 Honolulu Printmakers 87th Annual Exhibition (juried) HMA Museum School, Honolulu, HI uhuh. (group) White Box Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Evil: A Matter of Intent (group) Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York, NY
2014 2x2 (4-person) Louis Pohl Gallery, Honolulu, HI
Elements of Alchemy: Prints by Paul Weissman (solo) Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York, NY
Honolulu Printmakers 86th Annual Exhibition (juried) HMA Museum School, Honolulu, HI
2013 Salon des Refuses (group) Ektopia Gallery, Honolulu, HI
Mixed Media Miniature XVII 2011 (group) Koa Art Gallery, Honolulu, HI
2012 Temporary Residency 3 Honolulu (group) Honolulu Academy of Art/School, Honolulu, HI
Mixed Media Miniature XVI 2011 (group) Koa Art Gallery, Honolulu, HI
2011 Accession (group) Hawaii State Art Museum, Honolulu, HI
Artists of Hawaii 2011 (juried) Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI
Diverse Impressions (group) TCM Cafe at HMA/Spaulding House
Honolulu Printmakers 83rd Annual Exhibition (juried) Academy of Art Center/Linecona, Honolulu, HI
Mixed Media Miniature XV 2011 (group) Koa Art Gallery, Honolulu, HI
Water’s Edge 2011 (group portfolio exchange) Studio One Art Center, Oakland, CA
2010 Honolulu Printmakers 82nd Annual Exhibition (juried) Academy of Art Center/Linecona, Honolulu, HI
Mixed Media Miniature XIV 2010 (group) Koa Art Gallery, Honolulu, HI
2009 Honolulu Printmakers 81st Annual Exhibition (juried) Academy of Art Center/Linecona, Honolulu, HI
2008 Envisioning Maps (group) Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York, NY
2007 Elements of Alchemy: Prints by Paul Weissman (solo) Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York, NY
Honolulu Printmakers 79th Annual Exhibition (juried) Academy of Art Center/Linecona, Honolulu, HI
Origins (group portfolio-exchange) The Balcony Gallery, Kailua, HI
Plotting Paradise (group portfolio-exchange) Chameleon/SGCConference, Kansas City, MO
2006 Artists of Hawaii 2006 (juried) Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI
By The Board II (group) Louis Pohl Gallery, Honolulu, HI
Honolulu Printmakers 78th Annual Exhibition (juried) Academy Art Center/Linecona, Honolulu, HI
Written in Stone (2-person) Louis Pohl Gallery, Honolulu, HI
2005 Art Kauai 2005 (juried) Kukui Grove Gallery, Lihue, HI
By The Board (group) Louis Pohl Gallery, Honolulu, HI
Honolulu Printmakers 77th Annual Exhibition (juried) Academy of Art Center/Linecona, Honolulu, HI
2004 Honolulu Printmakers 76th Annual Exhibition (juried) Academy of Art Center/Linecona, Honolulu, HI
Art Kauai 2004 (juried) Kukui Grove Gallery, Lihue, HI
2003 Honolulu Printmakers 75th Annual Exhibition (juried) Academy of Art Center/Linecona, Honolulu, HI
Kauai Society of Artists Small Works Show Kukui Grove Gallery, Lihue, HI
2002 Kauai Society of Artist Open Membership Show Kukui Grove Gallery, Lihue, HI
1998 Garden Island Arts Council Chair Exhibition Kukui Grove Gallery, Lihue, HI
Selected Collections:
Baruch College, New York, New York
Hawaii State Foundation on Culture & the Arts, Honolulu, HI
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, NY
Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
Spears Abacus Advisors LLC, New York, NY