Andrew Edward Moncrief is a young emerging artist, born and raised on Vancouver Island, who currently lives in Montreal. He works with various methods, mixing and overlapping photography, painting, sculpture and drawing, focusing mainly on portraits and the human figure. After winning numerous scholarships and after the recent graduation in Fine Arts at Concordia University in Montreal with a major in Painting and Drawing, Andrew arrived at his first solo exhibition, which will remain visible to the public until March 29, at La Petite Mort Gallery, a space dedicated to art in Ottawa owned by Guy Berube, with whom I have already spoken in the past (here, if you’re curious). It was Guy who told me about the work of the young artist and I immediately fell in love with it!
Andrew told us this about his work: “The human face is enthralling; it is our primary means of communication. Working with the male figure I am interested in re-constructing a painting from photographs that I capture of my subjects. Having my sitters manipulate their own faces in front of the camera I try to reference, indirectly, images of facial deformities that I have archived from medical textbooks. I seek to skew perception, to scrutinize, and to expose a vulnerability in my subjects that is awkward and beautiful.
There is a morbid beauty in these graphic images which fascinates me, not only formally but also allegorically, as if these traumas where some sort of physical transference of psychological torments or insecurity. I am most interested in how my/our neurosis translates to the exterior and the connection between physical and psychological trauma, imagining what would happen if the latter manifested itself in some sort of physical way like a deformity or wound.
In this context I believe painting becomes the deprecating act in which I am free to project my/our own neurosis upon the subject. More often than not the manner in which I apply paint is something that is violent or abusive and involves my entire body. Marks build up to create the subject but at the same time deform and disparage it, scaring and wounding the figure yet, in the end, forming and defining its identity”.
In fact, these faces intrigue and frighten at the same time, arousing deep references, which are connected with personal anxieties and phobias. Regarding the exhibition, the artist told us: “This experience has been overwhelming in the best way possible ; I feel so proud to show my work in a professional context so soon after graduating at university. It’s a huge confidence boost knowing that people are interested in what I am most passionate about: painting”.
Guy, who I have reached to ask him about Andrew, confirms my feeling that the artist is destined for great things: “Gallerists all dream of the “Perfect Storm”, in context with how an artist will deal with their first solo exhibit. There are those who can’t quite grasp the moment, and drown in insecurity, and then there are those who fly. Andrew will perhaps land on day, but for now, he is flying high”.
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