About
Andvara began his creative endeavors early in life. At the age of five he was drawing portraits of his family and friends going about their daily activities. He started exploring guitar when he was twelve after hearing All Along The Watchtower for the first time ( Jimi Hendrix version ) .
His early influences in art were Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo. He was most fascinated by their drawings, especially those of water, drapery, and people in motion. In music he was inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Richie Havens, Rage Against the Machine, Helmet, Primus, et al.
Andvara began his formal art studies at the Illinois Institute of Art @ Chicago, where he studied media arts and animation. He then switched to graphic design and finally, after suggestions from his instructors, he decided to pursue a career as a fine artist instead.
While in Chicago he studied the renaissance master drawings in person. Furthermore, he was first exposed to works by modern masters like Mark Rothko, Willem De Kooning, Barnett Newman, Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, to name a few. This stimulated his appetite for experimentation.
Also, while attending school in Chicago, he began a love affair with House Music and Drum n Bass. He met many DJ’s and producers of renown and started buying records. His early influences were Richie Hawtin, John Acquaviva, DJ Dara, Roni Size, Ed Rush, Steve Lawler, Frankie Bones, DJ Dan to name a few more.
He moved to Tempe, AZ in 1999 and the rave scene found him quickly just as it did in Chicago. In AZ he loved the trance, electro, and breakbeat scenes. His favorite DJ was a House DJ, Pete “Supermix” Salaz. He also was inspired by the San Diego DJ and producer Jon Bishop.
Concurrently he started painting large, surrealistic/visionary works fueled by his experiments with psychoactive substances.
In 2001 he went back to Illinois where he studied painting and printmaking at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He was fortunate enough to be taught etching by master etcher Jon Swindler. Master woodcut artists Tom Huck and Joel Feldman were inspirations as well. He learned a variety of techniques from Professor Feldman and perhaps most importantly Joel presented to Andvara the depth of what an Artist is or can do. Tom and Joel printed large woodcuts, Jon made large etchings.
Andvara experimented with every printmaking process and began painting large oils. Two of these large oils are in the permanent collection at SIUC.
In 2004 he transferred to Arizona State University to continue his printmaking studies under master lithographer and monotype artist, Dan Britton. His first show outside the academic realm was with Art One Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ where he exhibited collagraphs and monoprints.
Andvara also forayed into photography. His favorite subjects were the female nude in desert landscape, and water in its various states.
In 2005 Andvara moved to Los Angeles, CA. He continued his photographic ventures, and started painting professionally. Free of all constraints he produced beats, played guitar, and painted experimentally.
He held his second art exhibition at Infusion Gallery, downtown Los Angeles, in 2006 where he exhibited large abstract paintings and surrealistic oils. He was stimulated by the ocean and it’s rhythms while living there. The works made in California are in the Travis Samuel Collection, San Diego, CA.
In 2007 a personal tragedy occurred and changed the course of his life. He left the lower 48 behind and began his adventures in Alaska, coming back only to visit family, paint, organize his work, and raise money for his next adventure.
Besides being an artist and producer Andvara has worn many hats to “ make a livin “. He was a dishwasher, warehouse guy, driver, gas station attendant, highway worker, factory worker, personal care assistant, sandwich maker, security guard, janitor, ditch digger, porter, housekeeper, and front desk person at a hotel. He was also a hiking guide, bear camp provisioner, dock hand, shipyard worker, floor tech, and fish processor in Alaska, all the while making art along the way.
In 2009 Andvara exhibited at the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery in New York City, NY (Chelsea). In that same year he was published in New Art International (his favorite publication). In 2010 he made the Cambridge Who’s Who List.
Exhibiting with RAW Artists in St. Louis, Mo [2011], he displayed large digital works on canvas accompanied by large, visionary, oil paintings. That same year he spent the summer in Moose Pass, AK, painting, working, taking photos, and getting to know the mountains intimately.
In 2014 he exhibited at Gasworks Art Gallery in Seattle, WA. Later that year he began experimenting with digital audio workstations in his spare time while working at a fish processing plant in the Aleutian Islands.
2015 brought him back to the lower 48 where he started integrating electric guitar into his electronic dance music. He also painted intensely and exhibited most recently, 2018 and 2019, at the Soulard Art Gallery in St. Louis, Mo.
Andvara continues to produce beats, paint, and draw. He has published an e - book about his strange experiences along the way. It can be purchased here.
