Alkovi

Mike Andrews on Chicagolainen kuvataiteilija, joka työskentelee käyttäen välineinään niin villalankaa kuin tietokonettakin, joiden avulla hän muotoilee visuaalisia tekstuureja ja dynaamisia kuvapintoja. Alkovin näyttelyssä hän esitti 'Contemporary Trash' -teeman mukaiseen estetiikkaan pohjautuvan mustavalkoisista kuvamuodoista koostuvan printtiteoksen, jonka installointi galleriatilaan oli ainutkertainen – muotojen toistaessa tyylillisesti hänen aiempaa tuotantoaan. Andrews toimii pääasiallisesti Chicagossa Yhdysvalloissa, jossa hänen töitään on ollut esillä Chicagon nykytaiteen museossa, ja jossa hän on opettanut Chicagon Art Institutessa.

Mike Andrews is a Chicago based visual artist who uses yarn as well as computer as his tools in creating unique visual textures and dynamic image surfaces. In the exhibition created to Alkovi he presented an installation consisting of black and white prints following the aesthetic theme of 'Contemporary Trash' and continuing as well as being consistent with his earlier style and works. Andrews lives and works mainly in Chicago United States in where he has presented his works in the Chicago Contemporary Art Museum and where he has taught in the Chicago Art Institute.

"Mike Andrews is a young artist from Chicago, whose paintings and sculptures share a remarkable DNA that renders them so closely related that they could be mistaken for separated-at-birth identical twins. Andrews seems to jump effortlessly from flat surfaces to engaging, sculptural, interlocking materials, such as nets and rope, which are all visually connected and related with recognizable lines and odd-ball forms. The artist seems at ease moving in any direction, and is a first-rate explorer who needs no trail guide or maps to find his way. He is at his best when he twists flat works that seem sculptural and utilizes negative space for positive results. He "builds" his compositions on a shallow foundation section by section, without a blue print or plan of action, except to move forward in any direction. The real secret of his appealing freshness and intriguing wacky shapes is that he makes unconscious decisions on his own idiosyncratic private meandering road, with loaded brush in hand that could serve as a steering wheel, allowing Andrews to navigate abrupt U-turns and sharp left and right turns without directional signals. His strange original works change course like an unlicensed driver looking for a short-cut through rush hour for the first time, and with a determined smile and one arm out the window, the artist navigates a busy interstate cloverleaf as he inadvertently creates a scenic overlook. When it comes to maneuvering color and form, Andrews throws in everything, including the spare tire. When this guy finally takes off with a permanent license to create much larger paintings, look out for dangerous and enjoyable curves ahead."
-Bruce Helander, Huffington Post, April 2011

Näyttely kuuluu 'Contemporary Trash' näyttelysarjaan, johon kutsuimme viisi taiteilijaa/taiteilijaryhmää,ja jonka ajatuksena oli käsitellä mitä tahansa “roskan” ilmenemismuotoja nykyajassa. Tämän pitäen sisällään muun muassa koko roskakulttuurin kirjon mediassa, ekologiset kysymykset, roskan taideteoksen materiaalina ja laajemmin käsitteellisesti ajateltuna kulttuurillisesti epämiellyttävien, siis “likaisten”, asioiden esiinnostamisen.

Exhibition is a part of 'Contemporary Trash' exhibition series in which we had invited 5 artists/artist groups to deal with the theme that can be defined to mean whatever form of "trash" possible - from the whole trash culture in media, ecological questions, junk as a material for art piece as well as conceptually the culturally unpleasant, so called "dirty" subjects and issues.