Paul Cadden was born Glasgow, Scotland in 1964 and completed a BFA degree in Animation and Illustration at James Watt College in 2003, preceded by a four-year course in print design and illustration at Glasgow College of Building and Printing. His work is inspired by a fascination with the media, the way it manipulates audiences by favoring arguments in line with its own interests and suppresses other points of view or simply diverts attention from them, resulting into alienation and a prevailing cynicism among perceptive viewers. 

Cadden defines art as pouring personal subjectivity into an object in the hopes that other persons gains enjoyment from it. He says that although his drawings and paintings are based on photographs and video stills, they are softer and more complex, presenting the subject as a living tangible object. He renders objects and scenes meticulously, to create a reality not seen in the original photo. Cadden regards his paintings as a departure from classic Photo-realism, chiefly since they contain emotional, cultural and political themes without visual reference.