Andrew Myers
note from the artist….
I have dedicated the last two decades of my life to the beautifully frustrating pursuit of art. In this pursuit I have found joy, pain, loneliness, success and failure. I decided to become a full-time artist at 20 years of age, the exact day that I walked into a guided tour of a sculpture room at the Laguna College of Art and Design. Since then, Art has not only been my career but my true passion and overall reason for being. I don’t take the role of creator and artist lightly and anyone that knows me personally can attest to my drive and focus to be creatively unique. The “Art World” has been extremely disappointing, and in my eyes has lost that mystical feeling that I once believed in as a young artist. The gallery shows, the fairs, the museum shows, the large commissions and even the sales have become a prick on a callused finger. The art itself is what truly matters, and I have recognized, through experience, that the only magic that happens for me is alone in the studio. I have always felt like the best piece of art I have created is the next one I am going to make.
I invented Screw Art in 2008 out of necessity. The market had crashed, and people had stopped spending money on art. It was a focal point in my career as it gave me time to focus on new ideas and pursuits. I had realized years before that the only way for me to succeed in Art would be to create unique works. The market is already flooded with great painters and sculptors, as well as great thinkers. In order to compete and be relevant, I have spent countless hours trying to become all three of these at once. It’s not enough for me to be able to paint a beautiful figure. It’s not enough for me to have the perfect thought to express a feeling. It is my opinion that an artist is successful when he or she can express a feeling and make someone think, while at the same time having the skill and discipline of craftsmanship. I will always struggle, I will always think, I will always feel, but I will never give up this pursuit to be unique.
Andrew Myers was born in Braunshweig, Germany, and raised in Ciudad Real, Spain. He now resides in Laguna Beach, California, where he has lived since attending the Laguna College of Art and Design (formerly the Art Institute of Southern California). The first time he set foot in an art class, he saw students depicting live nude models in clay, and knew he wanted to be a sculptor.
While in school he devoted himself to classical sculpture training, and it is in this academic setting that he began to find his voice. It is this rigid foundation that allows Andrew to transform any material into works of beauty. The materials used in his vast body of work include screws, oil paint, charcoal, bronze, cement, and found objects.
The best example of this is Andrew’s work with screws. He creates sculptures from thousands and thousands of screws. His distinctive and realistic pieces, mostly portraits, are made by combining oil paint and shadows. They are a testament to craft, strength, and artistry. Up close, they look like a topography map (hence, the series name Topographical Facial Landscape or TFL) made up of rolling hills and valleys, but from any distance, the stunning photo-realistic portraits take shape.
One of Andrew’s favorite memories was watching a blind man experience his work for the first time. As the man ran his hands over a large three-dimensional portrait tediously constructed with thousands of screws and hundreds of hours, his blank expression suddenly transformed into a warm smile. He could feel what others could only see.
In 2017, Cantor Fine Art produced a short documentary with Andrew Myers called, "Please Touch the Art." The film explores the importance of tactile art within the visually impaired community. This documentary features George Wurtzel, a blind artisan and teacher working at Enchanted Hills Camp in Napa.
Museum Group Exhibitions:
2011 Memorial Art Museum, University of Rochester, NY “Extreme Materials 2″
2014 Laguna Beach Art Museum, ‘Palette to Palate’
2018 Mass MoCA, June 23, 2018-May 27, 2019, “Consenses” To read more please click here.
Various Venues:
2012 Audi Commission, Automechanika, Frankfurt, Germany
2012 Hurley Headquarters, private commission
2012 Private Commissions for CEO of Nike, CEO of Nike 2.0, McKenna BMW
2012 CES Contemporary, Continue to Continue
2012 Press: American Lifestyle, Lamono Magazine (Spain)
2011 Bosch IXO European Advertising Campaign
2011 Exhibitor at SOFA Chicago
2010 Purposeful Dislocation, SEEDS Fine Art Exhibit Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
2008 Exhibitor at the juried Sausalito Arts Festival – Awarded First Place sculpture
2008 Awarded 2nd Place in Sculptural Pursuit Magazines’ National Sculpture Competition – featured artist in article
Andrew Myers’ art work has been featured in many publications. Below are some of the featured articles about his life and work.
An example of Andrew's work showcasing the dimensionality of his medium: