Paul Farr

Paul Farr (Publius Farrugia) was born on the “large” island of Malta on July 5th, 1928, and immigrated to the United States in 1954. He has been the proud husband of Jane Farr for 64 years, together they have four children. He served in the U.S. army and as soon as they realized his artistic talent, they asked him to paint a mural in their mess hall. He remembers really getting into drawing at age 12. He took his sketchpad around Malta and drew pictures of his sleeping family members, local stray cats, sunsets, trees, flowers, and friends. Since then, he hasn’t stopped. Paul will paint on anything from cardboard, rocks, lids, newspapers to styrofoam containers. He is the most organized artist you will meet, with binders full of his artwork separated by year. 

At the age of 94, Paul Farr has seen and experienced much. As a child he lived through the intense bombings of World War II and was bedridden with rheumatic fever. In his youth he was obsessed with searching for ancient archeological findings in the countryside of Malta. He traveled by boat over the Atlantic, along with many other immigrants, to settle in Detroit, raise his family and work downtown at the iconic JL Hudson building. He has a passion for nature, which combined with a vivid imagination has led him to a lifetime of creating with various media and any number of objects beyond paper. His motivation has always been to make art for himself, simply for the love of it, never intending on sharing his work . . . until now.