Iain Andrews

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New & Noteworthy Artist

Iain Andrews combines folk tales, art history and classical children’s literature in his paintings.

Iain retells and re-imagines the past, enabling it to live again in exciting and unexpected ways.

Iain often explores the relationship between the spiritual and the sensual, and the conflict of high narrative themes and sensuous painterly marks.

Manchester-based artist Iain Andrews paints otherworldly scenes inspired by the Faery Tales of Grimm and Anderson, confessionalism, and his time working as an art psychotherapist. Born in 1974, Iain has had a fruitful career showcasing works at major global institutions, including the Venice Biennale and the National Gallery of Poland. Fusing elements of classic children's literature and art history, Iain creates a collision of infinite narratives and expressionistic gestures.

Iain Andrews’ Style and Practice

Exploring the idea that mind and body are inseparable entities, Iain attempts to seize the relationship between the sensual and the spiritual, otherwise known as René Descartes mind-body dualism. His paintings - whirlwinds of colour, symbolic imagery, and texture - plunge viewers into a world hidden beneath the human psyche. His process begins with a pre-existing image from art history or by an Art Master. He uses this as an armature to hang his drama on, taking several coloured photocopies and reconstructing them with scissors and glue. The new and revitalised collages act as the basis for his paintings, predominately made using acrylic on linen. Paint is poured and manipulated; surfaces wrinkled and pockmarked. The brushstrokes become characters in themselves, and the landscapes painted curtains to imaginative realms.

Awards, Collections and Exhibitions

Iain Andrews' work is in various public collections, including Walsall Art Gallery and Warrington Art Gallery in the United Kingdom, Yan Tai Art Gallery in China, the Progressive Collection in Ohio, and numerous private collections worldwide. Iain won The Marmite Painting Prize and Towry Prize at the National Art Open in 2011. Indeed, Iain is not short of accolades, shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, Northern Art Prize, GMCC Art Prize, the Abbey Scholarship in Painting, and the Jerwood Painting Fellowship, to name a few. He has had various solo and group shows throughout the UK and abroad. Iain has also lectured at various art colleges throughout the UK and has undertaken several residencies, the most recent being in Beijing, China.