Paul Fentress (b. 1993, St. Louis, MO) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work dramatizes the concept of the artist as a professional athlete. His paintings utilize the sport of boxing - employing regulation-sized heavy bags, gloves and memorabilia used by the Floyd Mayweathers and boxing greats - to produce large-scale works that defy the limitations of their physical creation. These works are created in his gym-studio in St. Louis, which serves as a playground for other works exploring the connections between the athlete and artist. While conceptually rigorous, these works remain rooted in his fascination with the movement-based, gestural works of the Abstract Expressionists.

In contrast to these grandiose themes of the heroic, flawless athlete artist, Fentress’s other work mines a deeply personal, confessional vein. Using found objects and mundane personal discarded artifacts, he confronts trying physical health limitations and self-imposed restraints. These pieces, characterized by a deliberate lack of craftsmanship, serve as a vulnerable counter-narrative to the "perfect athlete," while still approaching the works with the same fearlessness.