Paine Proffitt (born 1972 in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

) is an American-born artist living in England, best known for his sporting works and for his depiction of the "working man's life".Kerryanne Clancy, ''The Sentinel'', 26/09/2009, "Pleasure and Paine both reflected in sporting ar

, 28/04/2011 Proffitt moved to Philadelphia when he was fourteenMike Kelly, ''Sunday Sun'', 27/01/2013, "Artist Paine Proffitt captures the magic of footbal

, 27/01/2013 after spending his early years in Saigon, Beirut and Kenya as a result of the work of his father - novelist and war correspondent Nicholas Proffitt.Dennis Hevesi, ''New York Times'', 17/11/2006, "Nicholas Proffitt, 63, Novelist and War Corresponden

, 27/07/2012 Proffitt studied illustration at the

University of Brighton The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieve ...

in 1994 before moving to England permanently in 2001.Zita Collinson, "The Sentinel", 04/03/2013, "Why my art's in the Valiant

, 12/03/2013 Proffitt cites some of his influences as being

Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

and

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and while not ascribing himself to any one art movement in particular, feels that

surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

and contemporary

naïve art Naïve art is usually defined as visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal education and training that a professional artist undergoes (in anatomy, art history, technique, perspective, ways of seeing). When this aesthetic is ...

are the best labels for his work.''Creative Stoke'', "Creative Stoke interview - Paine Proffit

", 28/04/2011 The influence of Fred Otnes has also been noted, with this being most apparent in the collage work Proffitt produced under the pseudonym of Nicholas Hudson Paine. Similarities to

L. S. Lowry Laurence Stephen Lowry ( ; 1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity ...

have also been recognised due to the northern working-class themes of some of his works. Sport, and especially football, has been a major inspiration to Proffitt's artwork: 'Football is central to who we are and where we come from'. This sporting theme has seen exhibitions such as that at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

for the Rugby World Cup in 2007 as well as commissions for football programme artwork.

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

used Proffitt's work for their programme covers throughout the 2011-12 season, this culminating in the July 2012 exhibition at

The Public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

. Proffitt's artwork featured on the 2012-13 programmes of

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

and

Aberdeen FC Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the Scottish Premiership and have never been relegated from the top division of the Scottish football league system since they were ...

although Proffitt's association with Port Vale goes back several seasons before this.

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

-born popstar

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

is purported to own several of Proffitt's pieces,Antiques Trade Gazette 1981 110312, 12 March 2011, p.56 "Modern debut in Cheltenham attracts bids from afa

, 26/07/2011 as do cyclists

Bradley Wiggins Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to r ...

and

Mark Cavendish Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Isle of Man, Manx professional Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . As a Track cycling, track cyclist he specialises in the Madison (cycling), madison, po ...

after the city council presented them with two commissioned paintings during the Stoke-on-Trent stage of the Tour of Britain in September 2012.Steven Kennedy, ''Stoke-on-Trent City Council'', 13/09/2012, "'Great stage' for Wiggo rounds off summer of sport in the cit

, 13/09/2012 In July 2020, Proffitt created artwork depicting the song ''Alan & The Robot'' by the comedy band

The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican are a British comedy folk and parody band from Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Formed in 2006, they claim to be the hardest working comedy band in the UK, having played over 1200 shows throughout the UK. They ...

for Scott Doonican, the band's frontman. Later in the year he went on to paint the pub sign for Doonican's pub 'The Pint & Puppet'. An early Proffitt piece took top lot in a 2011 UK auction alongside work by Govinder Nazran, Sir Sidney Robert Nolan and

Reggie Kray Ronald Kray (24 October 193317 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were identical twin brothers, gangsters and convicted criminals. They were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London, Engl ...

. In a departure from his football-related work, Proffitt most recently exhibited a series of gothic fairy-tale inspired paintings in an exhibition entitled Broken Sleep.Clare White, ''The Sentinel'', 31/05/2013, "Why Moorcroft is the model for the digital-age innovator

, 07/06/2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Proffitt, Paine 1972 births Modern painters 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters Naïve painters Living people 20th-century American male artists