Paulo j. Santos

Paulo Jorge Santos was born in January 1974 in a small village in the Douro region of northern Portugal. His early childhood was shaped by traditional religious and moral values, which influenced his outlook on life from a young age.

Paulo completed his education to the equivalent of Year 11 and did not attend university. However, throughout his life he has remained committed to self-education, personal development, and vocational learning. Among his qualifications are Public Service Interpreting (PSI) and Community Interpreter Level 3, working between English and Portuguese. He has also received strong reviews for his work as a fusion chef, took part in a BBC competition as a member of a team, and was mentioned in Time Out magazine in the same field.

Paulo has lived in London since leaving Portugal in 1994. He is the youngest of six siblings. From his first and only marriage, which ended in divorce, he has two children. Over the years, he has worked in a variety of roles, including apprentice gardener, office cleaner, hotel housekeeper, and domestic housekeeper.

A self-taught artist, Paulo creates abstract works distinguished by non-repetitive patterns and a continuous exploration of colour and form. His imaginary landscapes are inspired by nature and by a desire to escape into a world of fantasy. The themes and titles of his work reflect personal experience, the cycle of life, self-worth, identity, and the tension between opposites: chaos and order, pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow, serenity and mayhem. His art also touches on hedonism, self-interest, curiosity, and human behaviour more broadly.

As a composer, though not a performer, Paulo creates guitar-based arrangements for potential instrumental pieces. As a writer, he has been composing poetry since his school days, with the aim of combining words with music and exploring the imaginative journey of lyric writing. He has also written two short stories: one fictional, and the other based on real-life events and three other fictional books entailing hints of reality based tales. In addition, he has written reflections on his personal view of life and existence, along with a collection of shorter memoirs and ideas that await further development. None of his written work has yet been published by traditional methods. All are self-published.