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Paul Pascarella was born in Emerson, New Jersey in 1944. After studying at Parsons School of Design in New York City, he worked briefly in advertising as a freelance graphic
designer. In 1968 he visited Aspen, Colorado for the first time - the center of the counter culture at the time. The trip - originally a skiing holiday -  marked a decisive turn in his
career. In Aspen, Pascarella began painting on leather. In 1974 he had his first show at the Jerome Gallery in Aspen. One of the pieces was bought by Jack Nicholson,
marking the start of a long friendship between collector and artist.
During the next decade Pascarella alternated between creating original artwork in Aspen and commercial graphic design in New York and Los Angeles. While at
Parsons School of Design, he had made two short films. In 1979 he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his interest in film. He designed corporate
logos for Lorimar, United Artists and MGM/UA, and did extensive design work on films, including Bob Rafelson’s The Postman Always Rings Twice (titles, trailer, poster and advertising campaign) and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (logo and titles). Pascarella also
designed the titles and poster for Godfrey Reggio’s classic abstract film Koyaanisqatsi.
In Los Angeles, Pascarella devoted himself seriously to his own art, working mainly with dry pulverized materials such as pigments, charcoal and pastels. He created pictures of
buffaloes, storms, windswept prairies and archetypal birds of prey that hearkened back to a pre-industrialized America. The pictures inspired a friend to introduce him to an elderly
Lakota named Wallace Black Elk, who in turn introduced him to Native American shamanistic rituals such as inipi, the sweat-lodge ceremony. From inipi, Pascarella went on
to vision quests in Colorado, Oregon and South Dakota, and sun dancing, which he did for seven years. These intense spiritual explorations drew him away from the film industry
towards and exclusive concentration on painting. Having originally been drawn to spiritual work through his artwork, Pascarella began to make pieces which reflected his spiritual quest.
In 1985, Pascarella moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1983 he had his first show of the Los Angeles paintings at the Smith Stewart Gallery. His next show was in Aspen at the
Barney Wyckoff Gallery, where he showed until the gallery closed in 1996. In the last decade Pascarella has had shows at various galleries in Los Angeles, New York, Aspen,
Santa Fe, and Taos, New Mexico. His work is in several museums, including: The Victoria & Albert, London; The Harwood Museum, Taos; The Hammond Museum, New York; and The
Headley-Whitney Museum, Lexington, Kentucky. Private collectors of his work include: Jack Nicholson, William Aquavella, Ted Forstmann, Sam Shepard, Hunter S. Thompson, Ed Bradley, and Dennis Hopper.
Pascarella describes his work as an exploration and a reflection of the internal aspect of the ceremonies he has practiced; it’s images as abstracted archetypal symbols of the human
path. His move to northern New Mexico influenced his choice of nature as subject matter, in expressionistic paintings of ponds, fish, dragonflies, and other living creatures. In 1996
he realized that he found the abstracted backgrounds of these paintings more interesting that the figures and started to paint the dynamics of nature in abstract form. In 1997 he also began a series of Full Moon Paintings: oils on gessoed wood panels painted on the day
of each full moon from February 1997 through February 1998. The Full Moon Paintings were both a an artistic and a spiritual exercise involving the discipline of having not only
to make a painting on a given day, but to accept the outcome.
“I approach the canvas with instruments and materials not often used in painting to try to
actually lose control,” he says. “I use bid, awkward tools and rollers just so stuff can start to happen spontaneously. I’m looking for something that’s in its purest form, totally
removed from conscious effort - terrific accidents from which to work. Once I’ve found that, I start painting, and the thing can happen in six minutes or six months.”
In 1997, Pascarella suffered a nearly fatal heart attack. On his recovery he felt a need to incorporate the human figure into his work; leading to a series of Kimono Paintings. The
kimono represents an abstracted human figure containing images of dynamic nature within its boundaries. The near-death experience also drew Pascarella towards teaching and
sharing his journey, rather than continuing to work in isolation. As a guide, his aim is to help people discover the creativity that is fighting to emerge from each of us, and how to
represent in artwork what we are.
Pascarella lives and paints in his mountain studio near Taos, where he has made his home since 1987. He his an avid skier, high-performance motorcyclist, and fly-fisherman. He
practices Qi Gong and T’ai Chi as well as the Native American rituals that have so profoundly influenced his work.
Museum and Public Collections
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Harwood Museum, Taos, NM
Hammond Museum, New York, NY
Headley-Whitney Museum, Lexington, KY
Lorimar Television
Forstmann Little, New York, NY
Selected Private Collections:
Jack Nicholson, Beverly Hills, CA
William Acquavella, New York, NY
Ed Bradley, CBS, New York, NY
Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange, MN
Anjelica Houston, Los Angeles, CA
Don Johnson, Aspen, CO
Ted Forstmann, New York, NY
Dennis Hopper, Los Angeles, CA
Penny Marshall, Los Angeles, CA
Haynes Limited, Rogers, AR
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