John Andrews has pursued a manner of making abstractions that remove superfluous or arbitrary gestures and decisions. By creating each painting a single color, a simple shape and smooth-surfaced, Andrews emphasizes its sensory qualities, which are continuously modified by the experience of the light and space around it.His works are laboriously constructed, the result of layer upon layer of complimentary hues of metallic or interference pigments in alkyd (a resin) or encaustic (wax) carefully applied on panels in thin washes. The results are paintings that shimmer, subtly revealing intricacies buried beneath their surfaces.
John Andrews was born in Iowa City. He graduated with a BFA from Creighton University in 1984 and then completed MA and MFA degrees at the University of Iowa. He is also represented by the Hosfelt Gallery in San Francisco where he has shown regularly. John was an artist in residence at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in 1993 and was recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant in 1997. Andrews’ work is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Panza Collection in Varese, Italy, and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Japan, as well as regional museums and private collections.
