ARTIST AT WORK: West Windsor-based artist Andrew Werth in his studio. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Werth)
By Thomas Kelly
Andrew Werth is a unique painter. The Princeton Junction resident uses painted marks to realize what will become three-dimensional patterned abstracts. These paintings may be geometric or biomorphic and are easily recognizable as his. The push and pull of the colors, shapes and created movements draw in the viewers and make them wonder how these works were conceived and painted. These very colorful paintings are meticulously laid out and patiently painted.
How did your art career come about? What was the genesis?
In 2000, I was feeling burned out in my first career as a software engineer and technology manager, so I decided to make a change and moved from New Jersey into Manhattan. I began taking classes at various schools in the city with the idea that I might go for a Ph.D. in cognitive science or philosophy, but after speaking with some instructors I admired, who weren’t so enthusiastic about academic life, I kept exploring other options. Along the way I started taking dozens of art classes at places like the Art Students League, the School of Visual Arts, and The New School: art history, technique, and how to look at art. I found that I loved both learning about and making art, so I continued taking classes for several years until I finally felt confident in “being an artist.”
Which media and substrate are your paintings made with?
I use acrylic paint. Most paintings are on canvas or wood panels, though in the past I’ve also used aluminum composite panels.
What are you communicating with your art?
I’m trying to create visual experiences that will draw in the viewer and bring attention to how perception works. I mentioned that I had considered formally studying cognitive science and philosophy, specifically philosophy of mind. I’ve long been interested in how we make sense of the world and how our brains and bodies give rise to consciousness. Many of my paintings are inspired by readings in these and other related subjects. I use some of the things I’ve learned about perception and color theory to create a style of painting that interacts with the viewer — depending upon how far away you stand, or what angle you catch the light, you might see the painting very differently.
Do you make preparatory sketches?
I don’t make sketches in the traditional sense, but I do spend a good chunk of time planning my paintings on the computer before any paint is mixed or canvasses are prepped. Many of my paintings over the last 15 years are composed around “Turing Patterns,” the curvy forms that occur in nature as zebra stripes or giraffe spots, among other patterns. Alan Turing, the British mathematician known as one of the founders of computer science and also for his code-breaking work in World War II, proposed a mechanism for how these patterns form and I’ve been fascinated with them as an artistic tool. I wrote some software and developed various techniques that let me generate these patterns using Turing’s math, but which also lets me tweak the patterns in artistic ways. So, these digital designs are my equivalent to a preparatory sketch.
Do you decide on color strategy first before starting?
Yes. In addition to using software to design the forms in my paintings, I use my own tools and ones similar to Photoshop to test out color combinations ahead of time. Paint is expensive but pixels are cheap and it’s worth spending as much time as I need beforehand to get the colors right before I mix any paint. Also, because of the way I make my paintings, planning out the colors very carefully ahead of time helps me to avoid time-consuming mistakes later on.
What is more important in your work: composition, colors, or textures?
My paintings are physically fairly flat, so it’s not texture. Composition and color are about equal in importance. In order to get the visual effects I’m after, the colors have to be right, but in order to make the painting satisfying as a whole, the composition has to work, too.
Who are some of the influences on your art?
One of my favorite artists is Oscar Bluemner, the German-American modernist who used bold colors in his early 1900s abstracted landscapes. When I was developing my personal style of mark-making and trying to figure out what counted as art, I found validation in the works of Yayoi Kusama, Chuck Close, Marcia Hafif, and James Sienna, all of whom made visually intriguing artwork where the personal, repetitive mark was foundational. When I was living in New York City, I took a class at The New School called “Viewing Art Intelligently: Learning From Current Exhibits” seven or eight times over a five year period and the instructor, artist John Zinsser, helped me to develop a love for looking at art and appreciating a wide variety of styles.
What fight/struggle do you have regarding your art? (studio space, money for supplies, physical limitations, time to create, recognition, sales, etc.?)
There are many, but the one I’m feeling today is the physically demanding nature of making art, which takes a toll on your body. My paintings feature thousands of hand-painted marks of color very carefully placed on the canvas. Coupled with the fact that I’ve spent decades doing computer work, trying to stave off repetitive strain injuries is a constant battle. Frequent breaks, stretching my back and arms and hands, and experimenting with more comfortable ways of gripping the brush are all part of my painting routine.
Your work makes the viewer look twice and think differently. Is that the intent?
Yes, absolutely. I want viewers to be able to see something different whether they stand 2 feet or 10 feet away from my artwork. Some of my paintings use “interference” or metallic pigments, which also add an additional interactive effect depending upon how the viewer catches the light. I love it when I notice someone looking carefully at a painting, trying to figure out what is going on between the marks and the color gradients and the larger forms.
How do you know when a piece is finished?
Because I’ve designed the painting ahead of time, the painting is finished when I’m done covering the entire surface with my marks according to the plan. Occasionally, the painting doesn’t match my initial vision and if I’m unhappy with it, I’ll paint over a part of the painting and try again or, hopefully not too often, will re-gesso the entire surface and start from scratch.
Do you feel as though your work is evolving? In which direction?
Over the 20-plus years that I’ve been making art, the constant has been my personal mark-making technique and focus on color interactions. But each year I experiment with different sorts of compositions, going back and forth between more “organic” and “biomorphic” shapes and more geometrical or hard-edged compositions, all the while trying to introduce more complexity into the paintings.
What is on the horizon? What are you looking forward to?
I currently exhibit with Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, and am working on the last few paintings for an upcoming two-person show there with Larry Mitnick this August. This new body of work is tentatively titled “Surfing on Entropy” and focuses on the idea that life is a back-and-forth between order and disorder. I can’t wait for people to be able to see the new paintings!
To learn more about Andrew Werth, visit andrewwerth.com, instagram.com/artistandrewwerth, facebook.com/ArtistAndrewWerth, or email andrew@andrewwerth.com.