Saturday, October 3, 2009

ARTIST OF THE WEEK: John Azelvandre

A seedling always strives to reach for the sun.

I've done a lot of interesting things in my medium-length life, but what excites me the most is visual art. An artist was the first thing I ever said I wanted to be when I was a little kid back in Ohio. But, as often happens to little kids that want to be artists, I got sidetracked. Luckily, the sidetracks have been interesting. After surviving Catholic school, I studied: music and engineering and then worked in Manhattan recording studios for a few years. Then grad school: environmental science, philosophy and education. I've also worked as a park ranger and a science teacher. Now I'm back to art (finally) and still (much to my amazement) a happy resident of the greatest of boroughs, Brooklyn, New York.

Having spent entirely too much time with words in the past, in my work I am now seeking to express that which defies the bounds of language. My work is inspired by the natural world as well as by the imagination. Through the manipulation of form, line and color, I'm looking for that inexpressible ground underlying human experience and aspiration. By exploring the always fuzzy boundary between abstraction and representation, I hope to express that which could unite all the apparent paradoxes we encounter in life, such as those between real and unreal, sacred and profane, spiritual and erotic.



"Yggdrasil Mandala"
Acrylic on canvas
36” x 36"
Click pic to see more of John Azelvandre’s work.

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