Location: China
Andrew Cole is a British artist currently living and working in Shanghai, but has previously lived in Oman, Thailand and South Africa. His work is generally abstract in nature. He is drawn to the compositional ‘purity’ of Minimalism, the surfaces and handling of the Expressionists and the Abstract Expressionists, as well as the primacy of the idea for the conceptual artists. His overarching theme is humanity, but he tends to focus on humans and human action as an absence rather than a presence, through traces left behind on ruined and damaged forms, rather than the human form itself. He explores the impact and processes of human thinking, either as an abstract conceptual space or through the lens of history, politics, philosophy, literature and so on as represented by marks on textured surfaces designed to evoke landscape, either natural or constructed, external or internal.
These paintings are parts of an ongoing series of works titled ‘The Middle Kingdom’, which are all pieces inspired by the sights and history of China, where I am currently based. I find China to be particularly evocative in light of my thematic concerns and interests, with a wealth of history reflecting the wider rise and fall of civilizations. The various pieces can be understood as elements of a fragmented narrative, which can be viewed in isolation or as pieces of a whole. There is no linear progression through the images as such, rather I am trying to evoke a sense of cyclical time, the constant rise and aspirations as well as the fall and cynical decline: the ebb and flow of history through human traces and artifacts.
“In Our Dreams We Have Seen Another World”
Date: 2017
Medium: acrylic, gold foil on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2017
Medium: acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
“A Past Turned To Ash and Dust”
Date: 2017
Medium: acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
“A Construct of Shared History”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, coins on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic, sand, gold foil on canvas (Diptych)
Dimensions: 15x30cm overall
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
“A Construct of Dust for Ruined Grandeur”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, gold foil on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
“A Gallery of Silenced Voices”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, modeling paste, paper mask on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
“Across the Shoulders of the Dead”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic, sand on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 60x60cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2016-17
Medium: Acrylic, sand on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, nails, paper mask on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste, gold foil on canvas
Dimensions: 100cmx80cm
“Portraits of the Doomed I: Abandoned”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 90cm x 30cm
“Portraits of the Doomed II: Forgotten”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 90cm x 30cm
“Portraits of the Doomed III: Damaged”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 90cm x 30cm
“Portraits of the Doomed IV: Lost”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 90cm x 30cm
“Portraits of the Doomed V: Forsaken”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 90cm x 30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste, coins, nails on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste, gold foil on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
These 5 artworks were all directly inspired by the physical environment in Oman I was living in at the time, the colours and textures of the landscape and architecture and the particular qualities of the light. The pieces are generally highly textured (mostly through the addition of sand mixed with the paint) and, for the most part, share a similar colour palette. In addition, while most are abstract expressionist in nature, there are also elements inspired by more ancient forms of expression (rock art and aboriginal dot paintings). All the paintings can be considered landscapes in a sense, as well as in some ways, a form of self-portraiture in that they map my response to the environment, from a immediate response to a new environment, through a sense of unreality to a final state of acceptance or release.
Date: 2015
Medium: Acrylic, kaolin, varnish, phosphorescent gel on reclaimed wood
Dimensions: 36x45cm
SOLD
Date: 2015
Medium: Acrylic, sand, coins on canvas
Dimensions: 100x70cm
SOLD
“Desert Painting: Landscape Cross-Section”
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic, sand on canvas
Dimensions: 100x70cm
SOLD
The Head series of works almost all began life as abstract marks on a surface that, as they were worked, coalesced into forms that suggested faces or heads. They are all fairly small scale and are images I have been creating for over a decade now
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 30x40cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
“Head - When Truth is Uncertain”
Date: 2017
Medium: ink, acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2003
Medium: Pastel on paper
Date: 2004
Medium: Ink and acrylic on paper
Date: 2004
Medium: Ink and acrylic on paper
Date: 2002
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 60x45cm
Date: 2002
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 60x45cm
“Head - Turquoise Shallow Relief”
Date: 2015
Medium: Acrylic, sand, plaster on canvas
Dimensions: 20x25cm
SOLD
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on Paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40cmx30cm
“Head - Performed into Existence”
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Year: 2017
Medium: acrylic, sand, modeling paste on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic, gold foil on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, charcoal on canvas
Dimensions: 50x40cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40 x 30cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic and graphite on cardboard
Dimensions: 40 x 30cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic, graphite on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic, sand on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
The paintings all deal with loss, first of my mother, Patricia Anne Cole in 2016 and then my father, Barry John Cole, in 2017, albeit in slightly differing ways. My parents were central to my life and probably the single most important factor in me becoming the person who I am today. For a long time afterwards, and even now to be honest, finding the words to express the feelings after they died felt next to impossible. Some of the paintings were fundamentally cathartic, an attempt at trying to capture and work through the sense of unreality I felt and still feel, the sense of something fundamental gone from my life and the world not being the same as it was before, but the paintings are also meant to function as a monument and memorial for my parents. There is the idea that art lives on long after we're gone, and that's what I wanted to do - create a legacy for them, in the only way I know how, so that some of who they were, what they did and what they meant to me will live on and never be forgotten.
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic, sand on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
Date: 2017
Medium: acrylic, modeling paste, canvas sacking on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic, sand on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
“For Everything That Was Lost”
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 25x25cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, graphite on canvas (triptych)
Dimensions: 50x40cm ea. (50x120cm overall)
Date: 2017
Medium: clay, canvas sacking, acrylic, modeling paste, plastic, cardboard
Date: 2017-18
Medium: Acrylic, modeling paste, sacking on canvas
Dimensions: 50x120cm overall (triptych)
This is a loose grouping of works dealing with humanity - out trajectory through history, our thinking, our actions and effects, our triumphs and failures
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic, Phosphorescent gel, rusted nails on canvas
Dimensions: 100x70cm
SOLD
Date: 2005
Medium: PVA, acrylic, paper collage on Masonite
Date: 2003
Medium: PVA, acrylic, industrial paint, wax and bleach on canvas
Dimensions: 60x80cm
Date: 2004
Medium: PVA, acrylic on Masonite
Dimensions: 60x45cm
“ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforjustoneday...”
Date: 2004
Medium: PVA, acrylic, wire on Masonite
Dimensions: 60x45cm
Date: 2004
Medium: PVA, acrylic on Masonite
Dimensions: 60x45cm
Date: 2004
Medium: PVA, acrylic on Masonite
Dimensions: 60x45cm
Date: 2004
Medium: PVA, acrylic on Masonite
Dimensions: 60x45cm
Date: 2007
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 80x60cm
Date: 2010
Medium: acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 50x70cm
Date: 2014
Medium: Acrylic, paper collage on canvas
Dimensions: 100x50cm
“The Attempt at Ordering Chaos (Blue)”
Date: 2015
Medium: Acrylic, resin, phosphorescent gel on canvas
Dimensions: 40cm diameter
SOLD
Date: 2015
Medium: Acrylic, string, cloth, sand, plaster on canvas
Dimensions: 100x70cm
SOLD
Date: 2015
Medium: acrylic, sand, paper collage on canvas
Dimensions: 70x100cm
SOLD
Date: c2009
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 50x40cm
Date: 2008-10
Medium: Acrylic, sand effect on canvas
Dimensions: 50x60cm
Date: c2009
Medium: Acrylic, PVA, string, varnish on canvas
Dimensions: 60x80cm
The works in this series all function as a form of self-portraiture, an autobiographical mythologizing of the self and personal history
Date: 2004
Medium: PVA, acrylic, paper collage on Masonite
Dimensions: 80x120cm
“Self Portrait as a Shifting Construct”
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic, photograph on canvas
“Study for a History Painting (To Be Read From Right to Left)”
Date: 2014
Medium: acrylic, paper collage on canvas
Dimensions: 20x60cm
Date: 2014
Medium: Acrylic, plaster, paper collage,varnish on canvas
Dimensions: 60x60cm
Date: 2004
Medium: PVA, acrylic on Masonite
Dimensions: 60x45cm
Date: 2004
Medium: PVA, acrylic on Masonite
Dimensions: 60x45cm
Date: 2004
Medium: PVA, acrylic on Masonite
Dimensions: 60x45cm
Date: 2003
Medium: Acrylic on Masonite
Dimensions: 80x120cm
Date: 2004
Medium: PVA, acrylic, paper collage, varnish on Masonite
Dimensions: 60x45cm
Various works, mostly acrylic or mixed-media on paper. Generally these are used to explore ideas, images and processes. Sometimes the ideas find expression later on in full scale works, other times they seem complete as they are and are kept as works in themselves
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
“We are Woven Into the Fabric of Things”
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
SOLD
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 30x40cm
Date: 2015
Medium: Acrylic, salt, rust, wax, steel on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
SOLD
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2016-2017
Medium: Acrylic, graphite, ink on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
SOLD
Date: 2016-17
Medium: Acrylic, graphite, ink on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
SOLD
Date: 2016-17
Medium: Acrylic, graphite, ink on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
SOLD
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2015
Medium: Acrylic, salt, rust, paper collage, spray paint, phosphorescent gel on paper (Triptych)
Dimensions: 40x30cm each
SOLD
Date: 2017
Medium: acrylic, sand, modeling paste on paper
Dimensions: 40cmx30cm
“The Last Shivering of Spring”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
“New Leaves After Dead Flowers”
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
“The Force That Through the Green Fuse”
Date: 2016-17
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
“You Cannot Stand Outside Language”
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic, ink on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
SOLD
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2016
Medium: Acrylic, pastel, phosphorescent gel, modeling paste on card
Dimensions: 40x30cm (including mount)
SOLD
“Abstract Sketch - Blue and Gold”
Date: 2014
Medium: Acrylic, ink on paper
Dimensions: 26x37cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 29.5x21cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 29.5 x 21cm
“Empty Gesture III - Submission”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 29.5x21cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 29.5 x 21cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 29.5x21cm
“Empty Gesture VI - Aggression”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 29.5x21cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 29.5 x 21cm
“Empty Gesture VIII - Ecstasy”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 29.5 x 21cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 29.5 x 21cm
“Empty Gesture X - Tranquility”
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on cardboard
Dimensions: 29.5 x 21cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, ink on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017-18
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 40x30cm
Date: 2017-18
Medium: Cyanotype and acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 54x39cm
This is a series of site specific, impermanent works. Each piece signifies an eruption into the real, the id invading the everyday, turning and facing the strange. Most pieces no longer exist apart from these treated and manipulated photographic images, which function as both an artwork and a recording. The images have been created over a period of years and will likely have more added to them with time. The titles are deliberately 'overblown' in the choice of words, although, as always, there is still an element of truth in them.
This series of works is inspired by ideas and phrases from various works of literature. The original idea for the series came out of reading the Borges story "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", in which artefacts from a fictional world begin to invade our 'real' world. I had the idea of creating paintings that would function as remnants of fictional worlds, not just that created by Borges in his story, but in whichever pieces of fiction or poetry resonate with me strongly for whatever reason
Date: 2017
Medium: acrylic, graphite, phosphorescent gel on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
SOLD
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, phosphorescent gel on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic, silver foil on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 100 x 80cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic, sand, modeling paste on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
“The Multiplication of Falsehoods”
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic, silver foil, sand on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
For centuries there has been a conflict between science and religion, with the two often appearing to be the antithesis of each other. Both attempt to do much the same thing - explain the world around us, both the visible and the invisible. This is a series of paintings dealing with the interplay of science and belief, inspired by visual models of scientific and mathematical equations. In it a new cosmology is created and visualised, modeling worlds that are unseen and intangible through the geometric forms of rational thought. These are the blueprints of another world...
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 80 x 100cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 80 x 100cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 80 x 100cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic, graphite on canvas
Dimensions: 80x100cm
A series of paintings dealing with the question: 'where do I come from?' What is the impact of nature and nurture on the formation of the self? How did 'I' come to be the person I currently am? The paintings draw from the different places I have lived as well as my cultural heritage. I wanted to incorporate medieval alchemy iconography, and also to arrange the composition around the idea of tarot card symbolism, as well as symbolism unique to the idea each piece is working with and the places they are drawing on.
Date: 2017
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic, sand on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
“The Thunder Over Distant Mountains”
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic, gold foil on canvas
Dimensions: 100x80cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Acrylic, wood, string on canvas
Dimensions: 150x100cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Cyanotype and acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 54x39cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Cyanotype and acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 54x39cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Cyanotype and acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 54x39cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Cyanotype and acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 54x39cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Cyanotype and acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 54x39cm
Date: 2018
Medium: Cyanotype and acrylic on paper
Dimensions: 54x39cm