Article by Sue Snively
Local Artist – July 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
IT IS CALLED Temptation of St. Anthony, and at first glance it seems to be a standard landscape. Behind the sand dunes the Sangre de Cristo peaks of Crestone and Crestone Needle loom in the background, framed against a rather dramatic sky.
Looking closer, in the shadow of the dusk, there is a lone camper warming himself in the solace of his meager campfire. The individual looks vaguely familiar.
The painting is on two panels that open to portray a distinct but related work. And it’s the beginning of a journey into the life of the artist, Stuart Codington Andrews of Buena Vista.
Elements of Stuart’s life are reflected in the landscape. First, he’s an avid climber who has climbed the majestic peaks which loom from his canvas. Stuart is also the lone camper in his painting (and many of his other works also feature self-portraits).
But this particular painting portrays isolation in a vast and lonely landscape — and in that it parallels the exile of St. Anthony in the Egyptian Desert. According to Andrews, classical themes have fascinated many artists, and St. Anthony has inspired painters from Hieronymus Bosch to Salvador Dali — to Andrews, himself.
Andrews’ Temptation of St. Anthony expands when the panels are opened to reveal a 6′ by 9′ triptych, featuring the likenesses of Marilyn Monroe and Jim Morrison, as well as a host of other rather sensual forms, and more renditions of the artist himself.
Once again, the elements reveal aspects of Stuart’s life. There’s his youthful worship of his patron saints, Monroe and Morrison. Stuart’s first exposure to Monroe was when his father took him, at age 4, to see Some Like it Hot. Since then, Marilyn’s image has assumed an almost mythical aspect in his life and art.
Andrews attended his first rock concert when he was 14, and The Doors played. Jim Morrison’s performance made an indelible impression, which has remained with him.
This entire work, from the initial landscape to the elements of memory, sensuality and myth, encourages a discussion about the roots of imagery. As the artist notes: “It is an example of metaphysical classicism, essentially looking for a futuristic glimpse of the past.”
Temptation of St. Anthony is currently on display at The View Art And Media Gallery in Buena Vista, a gallery owned and operated by Andrews for the last 12 years.
An exhibit called Frame X Frame: New dreams, vignettes, and imagination in paint by Stuart C. Andrews, Susan Dunn, and Linda White Bat will be exhibited at the Storyville Cinema and Nightspot at 135 W 1st Street in Salida during the Salida Art Walk, June 25 through 27. For a map or additional information visit www.salidaartwalk.org or check the View’s website at: www.viewgallery.com.
A month long retrospective of Stuart Andrews’ work entitled 20 Years to be an Overnight Success will open September 11 at the Courthouse Gallery in Buena Vista with an opening reception that evening from 5 to 8 p.m.
This exhibition will offer an overview of the work Andrews has created since moving to Buena Vista 20 years ago. The collection traces the evolution of Stuart’s art, and thus the evolution of himself through his art. Eighteen of the pieces will be from his entries in the Chaffee County Open Awards Shows.
There will also be a selection of new and previously unknown works. Included will be an interactive portion, where viewers input and opinions will be solicited, so that the artist can get a finger on the pulse of peoples’ reactions and form an idea about what’s in store for the future in terms of his art and marketing his art.
As Stuart says, “People have had a great impact on my development as an artist. This retrospective will be an attempt to historically record and chronicle what has happened in those terms.”
Included in this retrospective will be the first painting Andrews did after he moved to the Arkansas Valley. It’s a hazy landscape of the area, with the obscure mountains in the background and smokestacks that belch blue sky in the foreground. In front is a nude reclining over the expanse of the valley.
There will be several examples of Andrews’ trademark combination of whimsical humor and surrealistic landscapes. In one painting, called Loss of Gravity, rocks float in the air over a majestic landscape. Another work features Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Her legs emerge from a whirling funnel cloud, in a painting called: I’ve a Feeling we’re not on Canvas Anymore!
Andrews has completed twenty self portraits, one for each year of his residence, and they examine traits of his personality, including eight negative traits and twelve positive ones. He’s been working on The Painterly Self for twenty years. Entitled Still Life in Stuart, it includes a final likeness, painted in 2004, which completes the work.
The opening reception on September 11 for this month-long retrospective is a part of the Chaffee County Visitors Bureau’s Adventure in Art series. In concert with Adventure in Art, eighteen Galleries in Salida and Buena Vista have teamed together with lodging, restaurant, and performing arts partners to offer art, entertainment and lodging packages on the second weekend of each month in Buena Vista and Salida.
There is more to Andrews’ work than what will be exhibited at the Retrospective. Stuart has always been excited by what he calls Performance Art, in which the artist is able to interact with the viewers, and the audience in turn interacts with the work and the artist — erasing the line between them.
In this pursuit, Stuart is working on a piece called Time Pie. It will deal with the concept of time and explore the way people use their time; either using it, wasting it, or killing it.
This interactive, or performance piece, has three large panels which the artist will put together with hinges to form an equilateral triangle.
One panel will present a collage with many, many pieces of Andrews’ memorabilia. It will denote wasting time.
One panel will simply be a frame with backing, but no picture inside. Attached will be artistic tools, such as paint and paint brushes, oil colors, crayons etc., and viewers will be able to “use their time” by finishing this piece with the tools provided.
The third panel will portray a painting of a Campbell’s soup can. If all goes as planned in Aspen at Christmas, this panel dedicated to “killing time” is where the real performance aspect of the art will emerge. The artist will be inside the triangle while a capable assistant shoots at the soup can. What will emerge on the blank side of each of the three panels is purely speculative, although Stuart says, with a twinkle in his eye, “I have a plan!!!!”
Eclectic works in progress
Andrews is presently doing a series on Birds of Prey, titled Stoop. An example of this is a sold work of a Swainson’s Hawk surrounded by falling red rose petals. It is called, She loves me, she loves me not, and will be available as a new Giclee print this summer.
This piece was one of the first Stuart created using a cluster of computer programs, interfaced to help compose the art by initially sketching on a digital sketchpad, then transferring it to established grids. This technique enhances the artist’s ability to create accurate anatomical renditions while maintaining the integrity of the creative process. It speeds up compositional aspects of the process and leaves more time for actual drawing and painting. Using this technique is proving especially useful to Andrews in producing the many commissioned pieces he does.
Besides the Birds of Prey series, Stuart is currently working on a piece entitled, Recollection of Love on the Colorado Trail. It will be part of a triad which will include Temptation of St. Anthony and another finished piece. The three pieces relate to poignant views of life and relationships, and features ideas that have finally been realized — two decades or more after they were first envisioned.
And where does he go from here?
Self Portrait
Upon compiling the many works for his 20 Years to be an Overnight Success retrospective, Andrews felt he had reached a logical conclusion of what he wants to say on two-dimensional canvas. The next thing in his sketch book is a 3-D series inspired by what he calls his “Coffee Shop Theory of the Universe” in which human existence can be distilled down to six aspects.
These six aspects will be portrayed on the surface of 6 huge fiberglass donuts which will be suspended and hang free in a room. Viewers will have to walk around them to experience the full picture. The story of each will, in essence, have no end, but will flow in the circular, infinite pattern of a donut.
The artist expects that reaction to this display — and to each of the six aspects conveyed on the donut — will either create rich emotion or possible indifference.
Upon rereading my write-up, I’m once again struck by how much fun the art of Stuart Andrews can be. The artist has a rare talent for landscape painting and representational art, and his mountain scenes are lovely all by themselves — without the surprising elements or fanciful titles. But Stuart’s work is never what one would call static. There is always movement in terms of technique and subject matter. Andrews blends deep emotion, symbolism, and classical elements in his work; along with an irrepressible sense of humor, so that there is a component of pure delight in his finished pieces — even when the subject is serious.
Sue Snively lives in Buena Vista and enjoys writing about local artists.
