Andrea Alvin
"Nostalgia and realism are two words that are relative to my art. My education and much of my work experience was in film and advertising, so I have been drawn to subjects that are part of our popular culture. I am a graduate of Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, now of Pasadena, California. My career began as an animation designer working on television commercials and television shows and later partnered with my husband John Alvin to form a design and illustration studio creating key art and marketing campaigns for major motion pictures.
I have been painting and showing my fine artwork since the 1980’s. I moved to New York’s Hudson Valley in 2003 to pursue my painting career full time. The objects portrayed in my paintings - old or new - eventually become a part of our culture. By painting them, I preserve that “moment in time” and re-create them as icons. The viewer must regard them in a new way. The surface details, the light reflections, the imperfections all become part of the visual landscape of the subject. I want to bring the viewer into the picture and evoke a memory. It is more than the look, or the taste, or the smell of a memory; it is a special moment that is being preserved. Beyond simple representation, I try to capture the childlike feeling of delving into another world where we are safe, solitary adventurers gazing up at the next great Wonder - staged and lit and ready for its closeup.
My compositions are designed as if they were a study in color and form teasing the boundaries of the picture plane. There is a less formal, almost casual nature to the way the subjects are arranged on the canvas. My style is rather painterly which is not expected from one who paints in the style of photorealism. At close range, the paint and brush strokes are very evident, but devolve photographically when viewed from a distance. The art eludes categorization in the same moment that it drives home indelible and familiar icons. The final effect is intensely personal to the viewer and yet broadly reminiscent of an era that binds us irrevocably together." - Andrea Alvin