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Michael Andrews ISBN: 9791094966044
Catalogue published to accompany the exhibition of Michael Andrew’s work at Gagosian Grosvenor Hill, London.
It's over 20 years since this wonderful artist's death in 1995 and his status as one of the great British artists of the 2nd half of the 20th century seems to have lagged behind those of his peers: Bacon, Freud, Auerbach, Hockney and Kossoff. And yet it shouldn't as there is such visual poetry in his output that once seen (preferably in the flesh but reproduction like this are no bad substitute) it is never forgotten. Maybe it is gentle but there is something good in that as a counterpoint to Bacon's awesome brutality, Auerbach's and Kossoff's frenetic intensity, Hockney's mercurial brilliance or Freud's overwhelming beauty. It has a subtle charm seldom seen in art or indeed in life these days.
Exhilarating.
I think his 'lagging behind' is due to his relatively early death and for the fact he was a comparatively quiet artist. By the time Bacon shuffled off this mortal coil his bigness was firmly in the mainstream. Big artist, big head, big themes and a big, big life. Auerbach was and is quieter and Kossoff the quitest and yet in the last 20 years or so the big guys of art have accorded them big retrospectives and their fame has increased; Hockney has big bright colours which the public just love to colour in their lives and Freud was always a superstar in life and art and no-one was going to stop his star from shining brightest. There is no such thing as 'ugly' in his work.
So he has kind of been crowded out by the in-crowd of British art and by the fact that time has accorded his peers the recognition their work deserves. But the memory of his work lingers on for many and caresses and seduces you with its colour like the bright colours of Heaven as visualised in the way Jack Cardiff used it in those old classic movies by Powell and Pressburger. And, just a hunch, but I think sometime soon that recognition will catch up with him and place him back where he belongs - at the high table of 20th century British art.
Images © Estate of Michael Andrews/Fundacion Coleccion Thyssen-Bornemisza. All Rights Reserved.
April 2017: 1 in stock. 'Mint'. From my own collection.
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