Paul Ware has a B.A. in religion from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia. He has practiced law in Birmingham since 1986. There is a significant spiritual and meditative aspect to his work. He tends to draw his inspiration from classical, religious and decorative imageries, often cross-referenced and linked by his materials and mixed media. There is a great variety of technique, materials and size in Mr. Ware’s work, from tiny, heavily worked and detailed icons to larger, freer figurative canvases including super-sized political portraits.
His smaller works of icons, landscapes and miniature interiors are often executed on irregularly shaped, cast-off pieces of sheet metal, tin, aluminum and copper, then hammered, primed and intricately painted with ink, gouache and acrylic media to give the works an intimate, jewel-like quality.