Segunda parte de este artículo dedicado a la notable artista figurativa estadounidense Andrea Kowch. Influenciada por los grandes Maestros renacentistas y, en gran medida, por los estadounidenses (Wyeth, Hopper), Andrea construye, a partir de emociones y experiencias vitales, grandes lienzos en los que plasma narrativas alegóricas abiertas que giran en torno a la existencia humana y los misterios del mundo natural, con los vastos y desolados paisajes rurales estadounidenses como marco escénico para sus personajes.
Acompaño la selección con información biográfica y reflexiones de la artista extraidas de varias entrevistas. Texto en español en la primera parte.
Second part of this article dedicated to the remarkable American figurative artist Andrea Kowch. Influenced by the great Renaissance Masters and, to a great extent, by the Americans (Wyeth, Hopper), Andrea constructs, from emotions and life experiences, large canvases in which she depicts open allegorical narratives revolving around human existence and the mysteries of the natural world, with the vast and desolate rural American landscapes as the backdrop for her characters.
I accompany the selection with biographical information and reflections of the artist extracted from several interviews. Text in Spanish in the part one
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Andrea Kowch
(Detroit, Michigan, EE.UU./ MI, USA, 1986-)
Andrea Kowch, c.2011. Foto / Photo: Alex Agapiou
Andrea Kowch is an American painter born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1986.
She attended the College for Creative Studies through a Walter B. Ford II Scholarship, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in 2009, double majoring in Illustration and Art Education.
Andrea has received numerous awards in various juried exhibitions of regional, national, and international caliber, and has exhibited in several solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries, including New York’s RJD Gallery, the Muskegon Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, ArtPrize, Art Basel Miami, the Los Angeles Art Show, ArtHamptons, and SCOPE NYC, who, in 2012, named Andrea one of the top 100 emerging artists in the world. She has also been featured in and graced the front covers of several leading national and international publications, and her work can be found in public and private collections worldwide.
Andrea resides and works in Michigan where she paints full-time, and serves as an adjunct professor at the College for Creative Studies.
"Los visitantes / The Visitors", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 48" x 60"
Colección privada / Private Collection© Andrea Kowch
"Tejedora de recuerdos / Memory Weaver", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 30" x 24"
Colección privada / Private Collection© Andrea Kowch
The stories and inspiration behind her paintings “stem from life’s emotions and experiences, resulting in narrative, allegorical imagery that illustrates the parallels between human experience and the mysteries of the natural world. The lonely, desolate American landscape encompassing the paintings’ subjects serves as an exploration of nature’s sacredness and a reflection of the human soul, symbolizing all things powerful, fragile, and eternal. Real yet dreamlike scenarios transform personal ideas into universal metaphors for the human condition, all retaining a sense of vagueness to encourage dialogue between art and viewer.” (1)
"La canción del cuervo / Crow's Song", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 48" x 36"
Colección privada / Private Collection© Andrea Kowch
"Guardianas de la luz / Light Keepers"
Acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 152,4 x 182,9 cm. © Andrea Kowch
«I started painting very young, and do not “live the life,” as some do, preferring instead to do my work, extremely seriously. My paintings are the primary focus of my life. I think about composition and color constantly, and have always been a fast and responsive learner, observer, and an “old soul” when it comes to how I approach and live my life. I tend to always search for the higher meaning present in all experiences, and with that comes a profound and rapidly expanding awareness that informs new levels of consciousness that undoubtedly get transferred to and through my work. I value my alone time, observing the world, and being with my thoughts, which are endlessly curious about life and the natural world around me.» (3)
"Tempestad / Tempest", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 30" x 24"
Colección privada / Private Collection© Andrea Kowch
"Marea alta / High Tide", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 20,3 x 20,3 cm. © Andrea Kowch
«I would say my favourite part of painting is just exploring that mystery and magic that I see in a lot of the commonplace, you know, human nature, human emotions, certain landscapes that strike and emotion in me, what's beyond that forest, what's beyond that house, and then the woods behind it, and what journey would it take you if you were to walk through it.» (5)
"La vigilia / The Watch", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 30" x 30" © Andrea Kowch
"La llama / The Flame", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 25,4 x 25,4 cm. © Andrea Kowch
«While I usually begin work on a painting with a particular thought and message in mind, there are times when I see an image in my mind’s eye first, without any sort of specific literal meaning attached at that moment.
Sometimes the meaning comes to light upon its completion, when I sit down to figure out why I painted it. The concepts and imagery that often come about on their own tend to be ignited by the simplest thing: the way a curtain moves in a hot summer breeze, for instance, might create a scenario in my head. I may imagine myself in an old farmhouse, feeling that same breeze rolling in over the surrounding fields just beyond the window. The canvas is where I am able to bring all these personal, imaginative musings to life, and realize them.» (4)
"Compañía inesperada / Unexpected Company"
Acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 36" x 60"© Andrea Kowch
Colección Biblioteca de Northbrook / Collection of Northbrook Library (Northbrook, Illinois)
Andrea Kowch, 2016. Captura del video / Still of the video (5)
«Part of my process deals a lot both from imagination and the use of various reference photographs most of which I take myself. In terms of the locations they serve as a main catalyst and ignite a lot of these ideas and how to incorporate my figures and animals within a certain environment. These inspirations sort of come together to for the world that I place all my characters in.» (5)
"En la distancia / In The Distance", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 91,4 x 91,4 cm. © Andrea Kowch
"Hermanas rurales II (díptico) / Rural Sisters II (Diptych)"
Acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 48" x 48" cada uno / each
Colección privada / Private Collection © Andrea Kowch
«All of my models are people and dear friends that I know and include in my paintings on a consistent basis. My paintings began featuring one of my best childhood friends whom I’ve known since the age of 7 or 8. After a while, her younger sister began appearing in my work along with her, followed by others whom I’ve befriended later on. They are all wonderful people with very differing dispositions and personalities. They each carry a specific quality that is uniquely them, and oftentimes, that particular quality happens to be one that I also possess or resonate with on some hidden level — as if each one of them, in some way or another, is an extension of me — and that is a factor that draws me in and to them, and subsequently inspires me to include them in my scenes.» (2)
"Orden jerárquico (*) / Pecking Order"
Acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 50,8 x 40,6 cm. © Andrea Kowch
(*) En inglés se utiliza la misma expresión "Pecking order" para el orden de picoteo entre las gallinas.
"Reunión / Reunion", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 91,4 x 91,4 cm., 2018 © Andrea Kowch
«People have told me that my contains this rare three dimensional effect and in my compositions that's completely intentional. All the parts I compose them carefully so that people have that opportunity to pull up a chair to the table, sit down and just feel everything that's going on; all the action, the wind in the air, they're all real scenes, but I think where the magic actually lies in them is in the dreamlike quality that you get from the feeling.
I've always been intersted in raw beauty and painting the psychological truth of the human condition. I just want people to take away that dreamlike feeling and just embrace all of those things within themselves. When they see things in nature and feel different emotions, you knos, it's all part of who we are as people. Just enjoy for what it is, let them be who they want to be when they loot at the work and interpret whatever it is they want to interpret from it.» (6)
"Ráfaga / Gust", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 45,7 x 35,6 cm. © Andrea Kowch
"No hay vuelta atrás / No Turning Back", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 24" x 48".
Colección privada / Private Collection© Andrea Kowch
Sobre "No hay vuelta atrás":
«Alrededor de los 17 años viví una experiencia que me cambió la vida, que me enseñó muchas lecciones y me obligó a crecer. No fue fácil, porque era joven, y sacó a relucir algunas de mis peores emociones, emociones que aún albergaba dentro de mí algunos años después. Afortunadamente, el pasado es el pasado, tanto que parece otra vida al pensar en él. Cuando sigo adelante, sigo adelante, y rara vez miro atrás o me aferro a algo que no me sirve.
Este cuadro simboliza específicamente este avance y dónde me encontraba emocionalmente en ese momento, y siempre será una de mis obras más personales de todos los tiempos. Siempre estoy avanzando, y la felicidad es lo que me guía. Pero mi arte me salvó y se volvió para mí más importante que nunca durante esa época de mi vida, y fue la pasión feroz con la que lo perseguí la que me llevó y me sigue llevando a través de cualquier cosa. La pintura es mi oxígeno. Frente a mi caballete es donde me siento segura y completa, independientemente de lo que ocurra a mi alrededor. Siempre soy fiel a mí misma y vivo según un fuerte código moral, y creo que eso, y todo lo que resulta de ello, es un aspecto importante de mi vida y de mí misma del que nacen los temas y contenidos para mi obra.» (2)
About "No Turning Back":
«I experienced a somewhat life-changing experience around the age of 17 that taught me many lessons and forced me to grow. It was not easy, for I was young, and it brought out some of my worst emotions, emotions that I harbored within me for some years afterwards. Fortunately, the past is the past, so much so, that it feels like another lifetime upon thinking of it. When I move on, I move on, and seldom look back or hold onto anything that does not serve me.
This painting specifically symbolizes this breakthrough and where I was emotionally at the time, and will always remain one of my most personal pieces of all time. I’m always moving forward, and happiness is what I live by. But my art saved me and became more important to me than ever before during that time in my life, and it was the fierce passion that I pursued it with that carried and continues to carry me through anything. Painting is my oxygen. Being in front of my easel is where I feel safe and complete, no matter what’s going on around me. I’m always true to myself and live by a strong moral code, and I believe that that, and everything that results from that, is a major aspect of my life and self from which my subject matter and themes for my work are born.» (2)
"Vigilante nocturno / Night Watch", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 20,3 x 20,3 cm. © Andrea Kowch
"El sentinela / The Sentinel", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 36" x 24"
Colección privada / Private Collection© Andrea Kowch
«One of the moments I savor most about teaching, I’ve found, is when I take a brief step back from instructing and just observe the students working. Music plays, the figure model is seated up on the platform, and each student is engrossed in their drawing, pencils and pieces of charcoal moving every which way, and their minds and spirits completely entwined as their focused eyes and hands work feverishly in unison to grasp, understand, and express everything that is before them. The room becomes one big bubble of harmonious, creative energy and it’s fascinating to behold.» (5)
"La niña de mis ojos / Apple of My Eye", acrílico sobre lienzo / acrylic on canvas, 30" x 40"
Colección privada / Private Collection© Andrea Kowch____________________________________________
Fuentes / Sources:
* (1) Website
* (2) "Andrea Kowch, Eclectix Interview 60", Eclectix Art, 10/2015
* (3) "Andrea Kowch, En busca de un sentido superior / Searching for a Higher Meaning"
Entrevista de / Interview by Deliah Flores. Social Life Magazine, 8/2019
* (4) "Pintora de realismo mágico Andrea Kowch: Lo que el viento sopló /
Magic Realism Painter Andrea Kowch: What the Wind Blew"
Entrevista de / Interview by Deanna Phoenix Selene. Combustus
* (5) "Andrea Kowch: Los cortesanos / The Courtiers". RJD Fine Arts Gallery, 7/2016. Youtube
* (6) "Andrea Kowch, Artista destacada / Artist Spotlight". RJD Gallery, 2013. Youtube
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Andrea Kowch en "El Hurgador" / in this blog: [Pintando perros (LIV)], [Andrea Kowch (I, Pintura)]
Imágenes publicadas con autorización de la artista (¡Muchas gracias, Andrea!)
Images published here with artist's permission (Thanks a lot, Andrea!)
