The art of A. Andrew Gonzalez

A. Andrew Gonzalez' strikingly beautiful paintings have an uncanny 3D effect.

A. Andrew Gonzalez

[#1 posted by minTphresh , October 3, 2008 5:29 PM]

man, those old paache AB's are gettin hard to find these days. gorgeous work!

[#2 posted by Sekino , October 3, 2008 5:55 PM]

They do have a 3D effect: They look like shell cameos. Hard to believe it's done with a paintbrush. Beautiful work!

[#3 posted by dredgemortle , October 3, 2008 6:02 PM]

That is very nice! It's like the antithesis of H.R. Giger's work.

[#4 posted by Mark Frauenfelder , October 3, 2008 6:30 PM]

dredgemortle@3: "It's like the antithesis of H.R. Giger's work."

That's a really good way to describe it!

[#5 posted by bondjamesbond , October 3, 2008 7:23 PM]

nice, thanks...

[#6 posted by Gwyllm , October 3, 2008 8:19 PM]

We featured Andrew's work extensively with an interview in 'The Invisible College' Magazine

Free PDF:
http://www.earthrites.org/invisible-college.htm

If you like it you can purchase it here:
http://stores.lulu.com/Gwyllm

His work is pretty astounding.

Gwyllm

[#7 posted by Art , October 3, 2008 8:37 PM]

@#1.

The airbrush looks like a Paasche 'V'

Great work!

[#8 posted by Think_Intuit , October 3, 2008 8:39 PM]

I love this guy's artwork - I first saw it on the website of Robert Augustus Masters (specifically on this page). Great to see it here.

cheers,
Arthur

[#9 posted by Bren , October 3, 2008 8:41 PM]

I love it. After going to the link, it seems clear he is trending toward an outright cameo style (as noted by others.) Which appears far superior to the earlier works on the site. The multiple and varied subtleties in decoratives of face, hair, etc., and the whole enhanced 3D effect of the faux-cameo are just phenomenal!

Did I say I love it?

[#10 posted by TEKNA2007 , October 3, 2008 8:50 PM]

That's really beautiful. Agree with the H.R. Giger comment. It also reminds me of that giant wallpanel sculpture that came to life behind Old What's-His-Names's desk in "The Devil's Advocate".

[#11 posted by Blue , October 3, 2008 9:00 PM]

Literally awesome.

Particularly 'Yemanja'.

[#12 posted by minTphresh , October 3, 2008 10:09 PM]

giger/alex grey/ david boltt, definitely. u r correct, #7 it's a 'v'.

[#13 posted by hohum , October 4, 2008 2:30 AM]

Very nice! Reminds me of some of the hyperrealistic pseudo-3d (what is the term that I'm trying to think of?) murals around town... Walls that look exactly like stone but are flat, windows that look completely realistic except they open to a sky on the interior of the building...

[#14 posted by KimS , October 4, 2008 3:54 AM]

@hohum

trompe l'oeil is fooling your eye to think painted 2 dimensional surface is actual. Often refers to painted architectural elements.

[#15 posted by Takuan , October 4, 2008 8:39 AM]

Gonzalez should do a Tarot.

[#16 posted by Anonymous , October 4, 2008 11:57 AM]

I have this work, which he is painting, hanging on my wall. It was the cover of a MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) bulliten. So beautiful, so striking, so broke as a college student as I was, a magazine now hangs next to my computer. Although I've many MAPS bullitens, this is the only one striking enough to be proudly adorned on my wall.

Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez, for your inspiring vision!

[#17 posted by noen , October 4, 2008 1:46 PM]

It's very beautiful work. As far as I can tell no mask, no frisket, just an airbrush and an eraser. Meticulous and time consuming though, not sure I'd have the patience for that.

[#18 posted by Anonymous , October 4, 2008 5:14 PM]

From the artist's bio:

"Feeling the need to contribute transformative images of beauty to the collective imagination, my imagery would develop an implicit antithesis to H. R. Giger's artwork. I felt driven to show in my work the liberation of the body and soul out of the dark depths of decay and perverse eroticism. By sublimating the erotic towards an angelic sensuality and by using ascension and rebirth symbolism, a sacred eros would emerge as the predominant theme of my work. "

[#19 posted by Kieran O'Neill , October 4, 2008 7:22 PM]

#18: If I hadn't actually seen the artwork, I would think that was trite artistic bullshit.

I've gone through his site. I've seen the paintings. I cannot think of a better description for it. It's beautiful.

#15: Tak-kun, maybe we should we start lobbying him?

[#20 posted by RJ , October 4, 2008 8:36 PM]

@#3
That's what I thought, too.

What beautiful artwork! They do look rather like shell cameos, in a way. But they have a sort of radiance to them. Absolutely gorgeous work.

[#21 posted by Takuan , October 4, 2008 8:47 PM]

Dear Kieran:
How does one politely nudge an artist? "Lobby" seems so coarse... I think it would be a great fit though. A bit daunting in scope but imagine the potential. Successful Tarots live forever.

[#22 posted by wolfiesma , October 4, 2008 9:06 PM]

What strikes me about this work is the lovely white light radiating from the body. The heart, the third eye. Rechanneling the erotic into these higher energy spheres. Not to bring it back to chakras, but that concept seems to really underlie this work. Beautiful.

As for tarot decks, you should see the zen tarot on a this website. (osho.com) I used to give myself readings on this site constantly. Before I went on a boingboing exclusive.

Thanks for sharing.

[#23 posted by hohum , October 5, 2008 12:23 AM]

@14 kims, Thanks a bundle!

[#24 posted by Elapsv , October 5, 2008 2:44 AM]

+1 this is a very nice kind of painting. I liked most of his work. It's kinda romantic.

[#25 posted by Egypt Urnash , October 5, 2008 8:12 AM]

That is some pretty nice stuff! I never thought I'd see the shapes and moods of psychedelia lifted to such a high level of technical skill.

Takkun, I just finished doing a Tarot deck, and I gotta say, it's a ton of work - it took me a year to do mine, and my Illustrator-centric working method is a lot faster than his hyperdetailed airbrush. It is not something you do just because a handful of fans push you to it; it is something you do because the gods tell you to do it, or because a publisher has offered you enough money to support you for the duration of doing it.

If Gonzales did them at the same size and speed of the rest of the work in his gallery, he'd spend most of a decade on a Majors-only deck.

[#26 posted by wolfiesma , October 5, 2008 10:30 AM]

Douglas Rushkoff,
If you are listening... can you post to some imagery and text from the fabulous wonderful Cyber Tarot you wrote so many years ago? It is very hard to locate that anywhere!

[#27 posted by Kieran O'Neill , October 5, 2008 1:39 PM]

#21: Lobbying is quite a strong word, and as #25 has pointed out, a bunch of fans writing in are quite unlikely to sway an artist.

So, perhaps a carefully planned and controlled acid trip? Subtle neuro-linguistic programming by delivering cues in objects that are part of his daily life? (Websites, newspapers, signboards.)

Honestly, it could end up being more work than making the tarot itself. It could become a strange kind of meta-art (convincing an artist to undertake and complete an epic project).

[#28 posted by wolfiesma , October 5, 2008 7:44 PM]

@25
Can you post some of your work? I love seeing different tarot motifs.

[#29 posted by Egypt Urnash , October 7, 2008 8:45 AM]

@28: Sure, Wolfiesma. http://egypt.urnash.com/tarot/ has the whole thing up, with placeholders for the extra cards I'm currently too exhausted to finish up.

[#30 posted by Anonymous , October 8, 2008 3:40 PM]

Hi.. this is A. Andrew Gonzalez

In reference to the Tarot comments.
I've been thinking about doing this for years, but the amount of work involved would require considerable effort and time, particularly because of my labored technique.

But without a doubt I will at some point paint a few images inspired by the major arcana...(The Magician, The Lovers, Death & High Priestess to start)... and this may lead to inspire me to complete a whole oracle deck.

Psycho/Neuro/Entheo influences welcomed 8-)