Andy Hammerstein

Born September 13, 1956, NYC.

Art making appeals to me because it is communication at the frontiers of human consciousness. I have never believed that all things can be described by words. Words may rush in soon after to describe what it has seen, but the new vision always leads the way, leads the discussion. Art is the leading edge, the not-yet absorbed, the difficult, the uncomfortable. To experience art is to experience the new.

Every human action is an easily grasped, yet complex pattern depicting a hierarchy of movement relationships a hand moving more freely than an elbow, an elbow more than a shoulder, a shoulder more than a hip. The information supplied to the eye can be transmitted by the mere slight adjustment of one image to the next. Marcel Duchamps Nude Descending a Staircase and the many works of Italian Futurists like Umberto Boccioni and Giacomo Balla are informed by a similar depiction of movement, speed and intent. One of my primary goals in painting figures is to reveal the human narrative therein through a spare synthesis of images that depict the subtle hierarchical movement pattern.

The recurring subject of human sexuality is well suited to this inquiry because it displays a very w...