Paul Housley – The Mathematics of Solitude

Hunted Projects is proud to present The Mathematics of Solitude, a solo exhibition by London based artist Paul Housley. Having built a career on infusing his paintings with a unique sense of narrative—moments of memory, nostalgia, and self-reflection, Housley’s paintings feel at once deeply personal and universally resonant.

In his solo exhibition The Mathematics of Solitude, Paul Housley returns to one of the recurring themes that feature heavily in his work, the dilemma and tension derived from the artists need for solitude and his obligation to observe and comment upon the society he was born into. Throughout this intimate exhibition, Housley purposely echoes and reconfigures the 19th century romantic figure of the artist as Flaneur—the observer of city life, detached yet deeply engaged. In many of his works, a lone figure stands adrift in the scene, present but set apart. A Night at the Fair captures this contradiction perfectly: the protagonist dissolves into the crowd, swallowed by the swirling painterly mass of carnival-goers, his detachment made all the more poignant by the movement around him. And yet, his solitude is unmistakable, a quiet presence amid the lively commotion.

Similarly in Reading Zola, Housley depicts a moonlight rooftop scene, the artist dead centre in a dimly lit garret, an ode to solitude but also an acknowledgment that we are always surrounded by others whose life we can only sympathetically speculate on. Silently under moonlight, the protagonist contemplates the unseen lives unfolding beyond the walls of the room he occupies.

Within The Mathematics of Solitude, Housley invites us into a quiet yet profound dialogue—one that transcends mere representation to explore the deeper sensations of memory and experience. His paintings do not just depict moments; they evoke their weight, their temperature, the atmosphere of a life observed in stillness. Themes of struggle and joy weave throughout his work, intertwined with recurring motifs of solitude, introspection, and everyday beauty. The simple pleasures of reading, walking through a park, or losing oneself in thought become acts of quiet resistance—ways of engaging with the world while remaining apart from it. At its core, Housley’s work reflects a deep commitment to self-education, a belief in staying attuned to the ebb and flow of life. His paintings remind us that, whether consciously or not, we are all connected—our lives unfolding in parallel, brushing against one another in ways both seen and unseen.