Andrew Gonzalez, of San Antonio, Texas, is an award-winning figurative artist
whose work has been exhibited in several countries. Born on October 13, 1963,
and raised in a creative family, Andrew's art education is largely self-taught.
His artist father, Anthony A. Gonzalez , encouraged his early interest in drawing and
painting but gave him no formal training.
In the year 2000, Andrew Gonzalez had the distinct privilege to work closely
with the well-known Fantastic Realist artist Ernst Fuchs in Monaco and Austria.
The paintings of Gonzalez are created with airbrushed acrylics on panel or canvas.
Forms, values and highlighting are created by lifting pigment with an abrasive eraser,
followed by the application of transparent layers of pigment. Influenced by
idealism in the mystical, visionary and esoteric traditions, the artist describes
his work as a contemporary Tantric or Transfigurative Art that explores
the dramatic union of the sensual and spiritual. His work is akin to
a revival of classical neoplatonic ideals centering on the figure as temple
and vessel sublimed by transformative forces.
He says:
"I would come to view my drawings after this period as mystical love poems to the soul.
I would often relate to the female figures of my artwork as dakini messengers or
as an anima mediatrix to the dimensions within, the projected mirror of the soul.
For me, drawing and painting became soul-crafting.
The imagery began to develop the quality of a revived Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic,
or rather a contemporary sacred symbolism with a predominant emphasis on the eternal feminine.
I began to master the airbrush which allowed me to create a sculptural photographic look with incredible subtlety.
It also allowed me to refine values and design with an almost unconscious immediacy
that balanced well with my controlled conscious intent.
My approach to the creative process is always a fine balance between order and chaos."
his web site:
http://www.sublimatrix.com/index.html
