Paul Michael Wright is a painter, illustrator, and storyteller who uses figurative portraiture to tell personal narratives about coming of age, community, and nostalgia. He works primarily in mixed media, using the human body as a vehicle to explore themes of identity, nostalgia , and transformation.
Wright graduated from New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in 2012, received his MFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in 2021 and his BFA from Parsons The New School for Design in 2019. In New Orleans, he has exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Center, George Rodrigue Gallery, the African American Museum and 5 Press Gallery. His work was shown at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC in 2009. He has been an artist-in-residence at Adobe, Cow House Studios in Wexford, Ireland and the Joan Mitchell Foundation in New Orleans. He works as a freelance muralist, collaborating and completing four major projects in the last few years with companies such as Vidmob, Spotify Resorts World Casino, Lionsgate and Nola Station. He has given back to the community that raised him by serving as a mentor and studio assistant at YAYA. He is currently a teaching artist in New York City.