Andrew Gray

I am a 21st century painter and visual storyteller. My resolute pursuit lay in revealing complex contemporary narratives of people who we rarely focus on in our society. In a recent body of work shown at the Band of Vices Art Gallery, Los Angeles, I highlight the humanity of the African American art collector, museum security guard, police officer and the quotidian figure. What are their lives like and how do they navigate through the complexities of American society, I wonder? My charge, as I see it, is to engage with those figures who are so frequently left on the margins of society and place their stories at the center of the canvas, this elevation suggests that they are not the exception to modernity but its exemplification. 

My college background studying fine art and graphic design has had a major impact on my art practice and process. Initially, my ideas take form through many drafts of digital collages. These drafts act as a visual foundation for the actual paintings that develop. The contrasting methods between both fields have been interwoven into my art practice, which has led me into developing a consistent visual language in my work. While my focus is the contemporary Black figure, I have learned a lot from studying the color schemes of 1960s abstract expressionism, among other artistic influences. My aesthetic practice is responsive to the cultural, sociopolitical, historical and economic dimensions of the moment in which it is produced, discussed, exchanged, and displayed.  

EDUCATION

2014-2018 BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD 

UPCOMING/ONGOING EXHIBITIONS

July 20-Sep 7 Solo Show — Maryland Art Place (Partnered with Hotel Indigo)

Nov 9-Dec 7 Group Exhibition — Band of Vices

PAST EXHIBITIONS

2019 4th Annual Young Collectors Contemporary Art Fair — Crosstown Concourse Theatre

2018 Group Exhibition — Reginald Lewis Museum

2018 MICA Board Select — Leake 102

2016 MICA Dis/Order Exhibition — Fox Gallery

2016 MICA Undergrad Juried Exhibition — Meyerhof Gallery

2014 MICA Freshman Juried Exhibition — Meyerhof Gallery

2014 Next Emerging Talent — Gallery on the Green

 AWARDS

2016 Recognition Award — Undergrad Juried Exhibition — MICA Meyerhof Gallery

2014 SaybrookFish House Award — Next Emerging Talent — Gallery on the Green

PRESS

2019 Andrew Gray Artist Interview — On The Record, WYPR