Andrew’s love of painting and the arts owes much to his local upbringing where he developed a deep appreciation of rural England. This fascination with landscape and light underwent further transition while studying in the City of London where, surrounded by buildings, the artist’s love of rural landscape became internalised. This ‘inner journeying’ opened up the world of imaginary landscape, a subject which introduced the artist to the highly visionary work of Samuel Palmer and French Symbolist painters.
Other early influences included Euston Road and Newlyn School which helped form a strong figurative element, now a prominent feature in Andrew’s current creative output. Favoured mediums are oil paint, plaster for sculpting and a love of graphite for drawing which underpins all Andrew’s work. After completing his studies, Andrew married his childhood sweetheart and today they work together with their two children at their home in rural Lincolnshire.
In 2011 Andrew painted his own life size version of the Last Supper, now on display at Farm Street Church in London. This was the beginning of a new branch of spiritual creativity for the artist; the pursuit of capturing eternal truths in paint, through a figurative metaphor. The completion of the Last Supper in 2012 also signalled a move away from commercial galleries towards art in public spaces and in 2018 Andrew became artist in residence at Farm Street Church.
Over the years, family and friends have come to feature prominently within Andrew’s canvases. Combining his own painting style with various techniques of the Old Masters, this fusion of old and new resonates with both the artist’s interpretation of visual spirituality and his desire to bridge past and present. Naturalism and symbolism become almost synonymous within Andrew’s painting and sculpture; woven together these elements seek to communicate something of the reality and mystery beyond our physical world.
Examples of Andrew’s work are available on his website which can be viewed by clicking here.