* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Andrew Salgado received a BFA from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and an MFA from Chelsea College of Art in London, England.
Motivated by the idea of heightened, purposefully self-aware art, he paints self-referential images that may appear to ‘question their own legitimacy’. Less frequently he incorporates video, text, sculpture, and performance. His intention is to explore the correlation between concepts of masculinity and the properties of artistic media.
‘I ask the viewer to consider the technical aspects of my paintings, but also the metaphorical role that media assumes in my work, and finally the relationship of my paintings to a greater narrative and mythology’ he says. ‘My work often uses personal history to approach universal themes.’
His work has been extensively exhibited in all parts of the world, including most recently at the 2011 Merida Venezuela Biennale for Contemporary Art and The Courtauld Institute of Art’s East Wing Hang featured him last year alongside celebrity artists Gary Hume and Tracy Emin and he is scheduled to appear on UK Chanel 4’s The Science of Art.
"It’s inspiring to see Salgado’s consistent dedication to the male as a subject. The way he focuses his painted gesture to conflate flatness and dimension, portraiture and abstraction, and sensuality and violence, is captivating and disquieting."
