Artist Paul Hastings – Agnitus Life

From Hyper-realism to Surrealism, Paul Hastings covers both and everything in between.

Portrait by Robin Wellner

North Carolina native Paul Hastings has been creating incredibly vividoil paintings for the past 18 years. His breathtaking landscapes are a product of frequent travels throughout the Southeast – stretching from the high country of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the coastal lowlands and the Florida Everglades.

Paul’s artistic quest is to capture a specific moment in time on each canvas. Enhancing the subtleties of light and shadows in cloud formations against an artfully blended sky has become a recognizable trait in virtually all of his work.

Accompanying Paul’s hyper-realistic works is a body of surrealistic paintings that combine his mastery of realism and his unbounded creativity. He is able to couple seemingly disparate elements of the natural world into cohesive and plausible flights of fancy. Fish fly, animals change their spots and earn their stripes, and landscapes are transformed into intensely colorful showcases for these adventures on canvas. As Paul describes what he aims for: “Round about what is, lies a whole mysterious world of what might be – a psychological romance of possibilities and things that do not happen.”

Paul didn’t expect to become an artist. In fact, the decision to pursue that path hit him “Like a bolt of lightning. … A true epiphany had happened to an unlikely candidate.” In this video, Paul takes us through the process he went through, that culminated in where he is today — pursuing his passion.

Paul’s works hang in the lobbies of some of the world’s largest corporations and in galleries in the art-rich town of Charleston, S.C., and in Banner Elk and Greensboro, N.C. Additionally, a number have been absorbed in private collections.

Here is a small sample of his work. We’ve tried to cover his full range, so buckle your seat belt, this is ‘gonna be a fun ride!