Paul Sietsema

Paul Sietsema is known for his distinctive paintings, drawings, and 16mm films, which collectively investigate how visual language and material affect our perception of culture and history. His practice often involves a cyclical process, moving between physical creation and digital image manipulation.

Working in series, Sietsema develops groups of subjects—from painter’s tools and coins to rotary telephones and historical exhibition posters—rendering them with startling realism. He employs labor-intensive techniques that deliberately mimic obsolete methods of mechanical reproduction, creating surfaces that invite close inspection.

In his film work, Sietsema immerses himself in specific historical or contemporary bodies of knowledge, such as postwar abstract painting, the décor of Clement Greenberg’s apartment, or pre-colonial Oceanic artifacts. His critically acclaimed work has been exhibited at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.