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Images from O-Town: Andrew Spear

Andrew Spear needs immediate gratification. Such is the artist’s defense for his beloved use of color pencils. “I can’t wait for paint to dry,” he has previously stated. “It drives me nuts.”
Ambidextrous in process, Spear’s image distortion is a result of drawing primarily with his left hand despite being a natural righty, while he jumps with ease back to his dominant side for coloring purposes. For Andrew Spear, simple tools grant him a refined love for a medium he’ll tell you, sadly, too many artists have fundamentally forgotten.

— Erin Dyer, Juxtapox, January 2010 issue

Orlando Weekly loves Andrew Spear, whose distinctive illustrations have appeared on the cover and in the pages for a decade – and no matter how late and loose the assignments have come to him from a string of editors and art directors, he has always delivered like a pro. Given him an idea, however complex, and he’ll have an image sketched in mind and then on whatever piece of scrap material is nearby. He’s prolific, and works and plays hard, both as a visual artist and a music DJ.

And now his artwork has been validated by Juxtapoz magazine, which featured him as a “Showstopper” in the new issue (pages 44 and 45). The eloquent intro written by Erin Dyer (quoted above) is followed by a fairly genuine Q&A on the first page with the facing page dedicated to Spear’s homage to Stevie Wonder, which is the first thing you’ll see when you walk into the door of Bold Hype for the opening Saturday, Dec. 12, of New Works by Andrew Spear.

The suspense was killing me, so I stopped by Bold Hype yesterday evening and found, just like I suspected, the whole crew hard at work on the installation. One look and my reaction was visceral – the size and perspective of Spear’s large-scale black-and-white portraitures peering from the walls give you an uplifting high. One look at Spear (see photo), and you could tell he was exhausted – by the work and the emotion of what the article means to him and by the solo exhibition.

Vintage furniture from 1618 furniture store on Orange Avenue, and other design elements will come together to create “settings” – way cool examples of art and design and functional living. All of which serve as an introduction for Spear’s new enterprise, Metro Finishes, "a high-end faux and mural company."

Posted by brooklyn gal on 12/10/2009 12:49:23 PM Permalink | Comments: 2

Comments on this story:

Anonymous said:
Andrew's artwork is super dope, especially all his Stevie pieces. I wish I could have made it to the show. Props for finally getting recognition from Juxtapoz!!! Oh word!
posted on: 12/17/2009 5:27:28 PM

Lamar said:
The opening was quite an event. Sometimes these things are sedate, and everybody sips their wine and says the right things. But this show and Spear's work are very well done, and you could tell that people were proud just to be a part of it in some small way.
posted on: 12/18/2009 10:46:36 AM