The Les Andrea family in Athens!
THE Pat Andrea, the Cristina Ruiz Guinazu and their children Azul and Mateo Andrea make up their collective Les AndreaA family from the Netherlands that is worth knowing, since it is a global phenomenon: All 4 Art or one for all and all for one, until October 30 in Athens at the Alma Gallery. Dream and reality, beauty and the unconscious, reality and instinct, philosophy and intellect, theater and real life.
The 40 works of their family with canvas and paper paintings, 3D cardboard sculptures, reduced collage techniques, as well as the in situ installation create a universe where everything is intertwined and connected with a common denominator, true blood. More about the style of the family through the father Pat Andrea.
Les Andrea could be, in addition to a family artistic coexistence, a rock and roll band. Really what music does each member listen to individually? I ask this while waiting for a “White Rabbit” type answer from Jefferson Airplane and other psychedelics of the 60s, since I think Alice in Wonderland fairy tale has defined as an influence a large part of your family art course.
We are a band, without being a band, probably four separate members, autonomous and self-luminous, each with his own personal reasons to create “art”. There would be a mistake in our DNA chain or in a chromosome, for sure, and if it were not hereditary, and therefore inevitable, perhaps in the evolutionary course a mutation occurred that pushed us all into art. For Cristina, knowing her family, I will bet on the mutation. For the rest of us, there will be a strong genetic link, a “heredity”, although to me it deviated a bit, it was differentiated into a game of “absurdity”, the one he encounters in Alice in Wonderland’s nightmare.
Diane de Selliers, the publisher, asked me to create the artwork for a new Alice after, leafing through the catalogs of my works and waking up after that, she realized that my personal work was completely “Alice”. I would not say that the fairy tale has always been a source of inspiration for me, on the contrary, my work was the one that inspired Lewis Carroll to write, who saw her traveling in a parallel universe, through some spatio-temporal anomaly…
Regardless of the path of each of you, do you find that there are common elements that define the common place, the language, of the All 4 Art exhibition? What will we see?
We will see my parents. My father, a well-known painter of his time in the Netherlands, my mother, a successful illustrator who was constantly watching when he worked at home, my grandfather, the lithographer and personal typist of MC Esher (Maurice Cornelis Esser) and a few more more people – Like “Uncle Willem” from my father’s family – and those humble and humble painters. The common denominator of All 4 Art, the common place, is all this genealogy, combined with an unbridled, genuine passion for “fantasy realism” (even for “firefighters”) with Azul exporting, which probably turns back, looking for the roots of the depiction of biological and natural phenomena …
Netherlands, Argentina, Paris but also the Mediterranean, judging by the heat of some colors: To what extent did the places they lived or live in consciously or unintentionally invade your work?
For me, art production is intertwined with your own life, creative art means I live art. If you do not live your art, something is wrong, you must be very opportunistic, you are not an opportunist or you have not made the wrong choice. Since life and art are inevitably intertwined, in the places where you have lived, you will not only influence but also be imprinted in your works. My beloved Netherlands generously gave me the vibrancy of its colors, there the deep colors created by the unique atmospheric conditions of the country. Argentina and the Mediterranean helped me translate the colorful lives of their people into colorful paintings and Paris gave me a combination of all of the above…
The dream, the unconscious, the fear, the eroticism, the game of the alternation of human emotions and the creators of space-time outside the truth of reality seem to see key features of your art. Pop Art, Francis Bacon, Balthus, new expressionism but also the language of advertising, even street art seems to be intertwined within your works on an ideological and philosophical level, so to speak. Have you always been unclassified or do I see it that way?
I never understood, it is true, who I am and in no case could I identify myself. I would not say that I have a specific style, although those who have admired the art tell me that they would recognize it from miles away. I do not see that. I feel that every work of mine, every “now” on the canvas, is completely different from the previous one and that my work is almost chaotic. So, Stefane, you see that right. On the other hand, maybe in the end this disharmony, the inconsistency, is my style, the ability to adapt to a single work unrelated phenomenal elements and incredible contradictions.
What motivates you and Mrs. Cristina Ruiz to stay creative after so many decades? Your works are in the biggest museums on the planet, you are absolutely renowned in the field of art. But at the same time I guess your kids have goals and are thirsty to keep going…
We continue because we have no different choice. This kind of inventing new images and shapes and forms is so powerful that our whole life has been “built” around this need. We will die with the pencil in hand…
I never encouraged my children to pursue art, art is a hard place, and you can hardly manage it for your livelihood. But once they have chosen this path, they are told that they are both true and honest about what they are doing and never try to deceive it, although one could not gain an entire fortune if they did…
Art is constantly on the move, it does not stand still, it does not stagnate, it changes, it goes forward, it adapts, it adopts new forms, it is always looking for new, unexplored paths, new universes and it is redefined.
Could you artistically appreciate the progress of your daughter Azul and your son Mateo? Really, do you advise them? And vice versa: do they advise you?
We do not seek guidance or advice from each other. Not seriously at least. This happens in a more “informal” context. We are anxious people, we do not want to experiment, we do not play, and we are also very stubborn and stubborn sometimes, so that we blindly follow and insist on our own path as it appears in front of us. Sometimes we stand close, sometimes again at some distance, sometimes we become critical of each other, other times we joke and joke, especially when we do a report together… If I had any advice for my children, it would be: “Stay free, my dear creatures! ».
Information
Group exhibition All 4 Arts, with artists Pat Andrea, Cristina Ruiz Guiñazú, Mateo Andrea and Azul Andrea.
Opening: Thursday, September 23 18:30 – 22:00
Exhibition duration: 23/9 – 30/10
ALMA Gallery: 24 Ypsilandou, Kolonaki | 2114003160