Paul Dash was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, in 1946; in 1957, aged 11, he immigrated to England, joining his parents in Oxford. In 2019 he held his first solo and retrospective exhibition at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, entitled 'Lifeline', which included work from the 1960s to the 2000s, encompassing figurative and semi-abstract large-scale paintings, and a selection of ink drawings inspired by his Caribbean heritage. Alongside his own art practice, Dash has spent much of his professional career in arts and multicultural education, most notably as lecturer and senior lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Artist and academic, Paul Dash was born in Fairfield Cross Road, St. Michael, Bridgetown, Barbados, in 1946. In 1957, aged 11, he immigrated to England, joining his parents in Oxford. His father ran a choir in the front room of their house and, now, when Dash paints he always listens to choral music: ‘It stuck with me’ (Short film on view at Hackney Museum zooms in on the life of painter Paul Dash, Hackney Citizen, 4 November 2016). He remembers that, ‘There weren’t that many black people in Oxford’; in fact, he and his older brother were the only two black children to attend his secondary school. He was too anxious to play with other children, climbing instead to the top of a double-decker bus and gazing out on the people below. He began to take art classes, honing a technique which involved starting with spots of paint and working outwards. He reflects, ‘I didn’t paint pictures of Oxford but of Barbados, as a way of recognising that I was Caribbean and had a Caribbean cultural experience’ (Hackney Citizen, 2016).
After completing a Foundation course at Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University, 1964-1965), Dash moved to London to study painting at Chelsea School of Art, graduating with a BA in 1968. However, he explains, his figurative approach caused some concern: ‘staff at Chelsea didn’t take kindly to my love of more traditional figurative art-making practices and I simply couldn’t settle. Eventually in the second year whilst painting a complex carnival piece, a member of staff stood behind me and pointedly said ‘figurative art is dead, it went out with Cezanne.’ When he left the room, I turned the picture upside down and painted an abstract over it. That was the beginning of my period in the wilderness as a creative being’ (Paul Dash, 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning website). Dash was an active member of the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) during 1969-1972 and exhibited with the group at various venues in London and Kent. Although involved with CAM from the start, he has always remained on the peripheries of the Black art community. In the 1980s he participated in the Whitechapel Open Exhibition and in 1990 he completed an MA at the Institute of Education, University of London. In 1996 his work featured in Caribbean Connection 2: Island Pulse, at Islington Arts Factory, curated by Grenada-born artist Denzil Forrester and in 1998 his work was included in Revellers Gather for Mas’ at The Royal Academy of Arts. In 2015 he featured in No Colour Bar at the Guildhall Art Gallery, London, an exhibition which Dash described as ‘one of the biggest […] and one of the most important experiences in art that I’ve had […] showing work alongside people like Aubrey Williams, Ronald Moody, Sonia Boyce and Denzil Forrester, and many others, that I greatly respect’ (Paul Dash, No Colour Bar website). In 2019 he was given his first solo and retrospective exhibition by 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning. Lifeline included work from the 1960s to the 2000s, figurative and semi-abstract large-scale paintings and a selection of ink drawings inspired by his Caribbean heritage. Dash refers to art making as a ‘lifeline’, reflecting that, ‘At times that line has shown signs of wear and threatened to break but it has held firm and enabled me to build a life of purpose, meaning and hope for the future through my ongoing art practice’ (Paul Dash, International Curators Forum website). His recent work confronts the reality of the current refugee crisis in a series of inks, watercolours, and collage. Dash has also exhibited with the New English Art Club (NEAC) at the Mall Galleries.
Alongside his own art practice, Dash has spent much of his professional career in arts and multicultural education, most notably as a lecturer and senior lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, where for 20 years he headed of one the MA art courses until his retirement. He has conducted research into the experience of African Caribbean students in education and, more specifically, art education, and in 2009 he received a PhD from Goldsmiths. Filmmaker and journalist Martha McAlpine has documented Dash’s struggles to live as a Windrush generation migrant in post-colonial Britain in a short film, previously shown at Hackney Museum. ‘I was drawn to his story because I think through his art (and through his life) he speaks about the legacies of racism and imperialism in our country and what the impact of that has been for the black British population who migrated here,’ McAlpine explains (Hackney Citizen, 2016). Five minutes long, the film is a brief yet moving portrayal. ‘Paul’s art often depicts crowds of people celebrating in some way,’ she says. ‘Caribbean Carnival ultimately has its roots in resistance to oppression and to this day is still a powerful expression of that. I hope to explore and illustrate what this notion of ‘Black Art’ really is and through Paul’s experiences as a migrant in Britain and his artistic expressions of Caribbean carnival, what could be said about the ‘Black British’ experience’ (Hackney Citizen, 2016). Paul Dash lives and works in Hackney, East London. Although his work is not currently held in UK public collections, Dash has been included in Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s-Now, Tate Britain (2021).