Andy Stewart

In his last solo show Andy Stewart was inspired primarily by T. S. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’, a poem which is rich in literary metaphor and a visionary reaction to the desolation of the First World War, but with a resolute belief in hope and renewal. It was this notion of renewal that was of particular interest to the artist as he developed his own vocabulary of visual metaphor, and strove to create images with emotional and psychological depth. Stewart generally identifies with the great American abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler, who speaks of ‘interior landscapes’ - autobiographical abstracted worlds that possess the ability to materialise feelings and images that exist just below the level of consciousness. To engage conceptually in this way, Stewart has developed an extensive range of mark-making, collisions and harmonious couplings, where the canvas becomes an open arena for painterly incident, and where chance and controlled gesture are reconciled by compositional structure. The artist also uses a number of experimental mediums within his work such as gloss paint, diamond dust, and glitter to create palpable and tactile surfaces, which also construct subtle visual tricks to open up and create seemingly three-dimensional spaces on the canvas surface.

Andy Stewart's good friend and mentor, John Hoyland RA once said of his work: 'If painting is dead in this computer lead internet world, if no one wants beauty through colour, subtle tones and painterly contrasts of pauses, silence and crescendos, if the human mind of feelings, intellect and emotions is over then Andy Stewart can go home. His recent work is sonorously beautiful and unfathomable, but your eyes can trace its knowingness.'

The artist graduated from Gloucester College of Art and Design with a BA Hons in 1985. He has since exhibited in numerous shows and worked on a variety of collaborations, thereby establishing a substantial following for his work. Stewart has had numerous shows in London at The Curwen Gallery, Eagle Gallery, Gallery Fine, and Sarah Myerscough Fine Art. In 2002 he was shortlisted for the John Moore's painting prize and in 2003 he was selected for the Royal Academy Summer Show. Participation in art fairs include, The Contemporary Art Society Market at the Royal Festival Hall in 1994, 1995 and 1996; The London Art Fair from 2005 until 2010; The Toronto Art Fair 2006, 2007 and 2008 and International shows at the Cast Iron Gallery, New York; White8 Gallery and Gallery Wahrsteiner, Austria; The Cultural Institute, Vienna; San Francesco Del Vigna, Venice; and Museum of Modern Art, Passau. He was also part of the 'Celebrating Mozart' exhibition which took his work to Havana, Seoul, Bogota and Caracas as well as the House of Parliament, Vienna, Houses of Parliament, London and at the Salzburg Festival at the Television Centre, Austria. Another touring group exhibition has taken his work to the European Parliament, Brussels. In 1986 the Central Electricity Generating Board commissioned a mural mosaic and later commissions have taken him to Austria, where he now works for part of the year on collaborative projects with fellow artists Ernst and Eleonor Freidrich. Stewart is included in many public and corporate collections around the world; Egon Zehnder International; Hammerson; Colliers CRE in London, Glasgow and Manchester; the Town Museum, Hall and Landes Museum,Tyrol, both in Austria, and private collections in London, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Austria, USA and France including that of the Duke and Duchess of Westminster and Franz Fischler, The ex-Agricultural Minister for European Union (collaborative work).