Paul was born in Canada and received his BFA in 1980 from Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB, Canada. He came to Australia in 1987 to do an MFA at the Centre for the Arts, Hobart, Tasmania. He has lived in Sydney since 1989.

He has been a recipient of the AG NSW Enise Hickey Studio Residency in Paris, has held nine solo shows and been in numerous group exhibitions. He was a finalist in many competitions, more recently the Doug Moran Portrait Prize 2013, the Shirley Hannan Portrait Prize 2014 and the Archibald Prize 2014. He won the Northbridge Art Prize in 2011 and the Hunters Hill Art Prize in 2013.