Stephen Andrews

Stephen Andrews (born 1956) is a Canadian artist based in Toronto. He is known for using various media to explore matters such as memory and loss, and technology, and its representations.

Art practice The artist has stated that in his work he renders "the digital, the dot matrix in print reproduction, film or television technologies...by hand in an attempt to represent both the message and the means by which it is delivered." By using a technique that gives equal weight to both media and message of his chosen topics, Andrews creates a space for reflection on our daily consumption of the imagery we get from what he calls "virtual or ether" media. The portrait series of graphite-and-oil-rubbed wax tablets, Facsimile (1991–1992) uses obituary portraits of men who have died from HIV/AIDS as source material, "reproduced from faxed images...the details are pixellated, smudgy." By this method, "Facsimile... designates the technology of reproduction and transmission that inhabits the images." Atom Egoyan writing about a show he curated of Andrews' work notes, "Facsimile's most haunting aspect...is how it traces the erosion and evolution of personal identity from an anonymous mediated source."

While Andrews' output prior to 1996 tends to be in black and white or monochrome, around this time he introduced colour into his work. The Weather Series (1996) begins the artists' extended investigation into the processes of colour generation and the four-colour separation printing processes. Andrews' method of homemade colour separation evokes both the 19th-century painting technique of Pointillism "in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image", and the Ben-Day dots of mechanical printing. But Andrews creates works that "hover at legibility." The artist has stated the series is: Andrews also used 600 drawings from the series to create his one-minute animation, The Quick and the Dead (2004). In Cartoon (2007), he continues to use media sources to create drawings.

Trump Tower commission (Toronto) The Trump Tower in Toronto commissioned a mosaic version of the Andrews' work A small part of something larger (2009). As part of his development of the work, Andrews created The View From Here a large-scale triptych of a "tightly cropped crowd scene" The mosaic of 500,000 small porcelain, glass, stone and gold tiles was crafted by Montreal-based Mosaika Art & Design.

Selected publications

Stephen Andrews: Picture Maker, Alexander Nagel, Canadian Art, Winter (2007) Subtitles, Atom Egoyan ed., Alphabet City No. 9 (2005) Lost in the Archives, Rebecca Comay ed., Alphabet City No. 7 Stephen Andrews: Likeness, A. Hurtig, S. Watson eds. (2001) Autobiography, North Dakota Museum of Art (1995) Stephen Andrews: Facsimile, Oakville Galleries (1992)

Selected exhibitions Andrews, POV, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2015 X, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, 2012 Stephen Andrews, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, ACAD, 2011 It Is What It Is, Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2010 Cartoon, The Power Plant, Toronto, 2007 As above, so below, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, 2009 The Quick and the Dead, Gallery Lambton, Sarnia, 2008 Biennale de Montreal, 2007 Forecast, JB Gallery Hart House University of Toronto, Toronto, 2006 A deer in the headlights (remix), Platform Gallery, Seattle Stephen Andrews, Cue Art Foundation, New York, 2004 The 1st part of the 2nd half, Dazibao, Montreal, 2002 Likeness, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, UBC, 2001

Selected public collections Art Gallery of Hamilton Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario Art Museum, University of Toronto Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery, Sarnia, Ontario

Awards Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2019)