Image below: Across the River, Oil on Panel, 9" x 12"
Image below: A Moment, Oil on Canvas, Triptych, 30" x 36" ( 3 panels)
Below is the press release from Amsterdam Whitney Gallery:
ANDREA HARRIS
“COLLECTORS’ CHOICE” DECEMBER 12 – JANUARY 27, 2015
Andrea Harris's oeuvre is inspired by the philosophy
of Henri Matisse who declared: "An artist must possess Nature. He must
identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery
which will later enable him to express himself in his own
language." Revering the land and the sky, Andrea Harris has
created an intimate dialogue with nature, using her paint brush to explore
landscape painting in all its divine, mystical and spiritual aspects.
Influenced by her recent travels to France and Italy, Ms. Harris
translates the beauty and light of the Impressionist and Renaissance
Masters to achieve illuminated colors and transluminescent light. Within
her landscapes, Ms. Harris asserts her own distinctive visual lexicon
and evocative visionary syntax where she gravitates towards ethereal
visions of the terrestrial world. Rejoicing in the joy of the terrestrial
realm, her magnificent misty scenes are conversations with Mother Nature.
Offering a deep spiritual reverence for the universal beauty of the earth
and the heavens, Ms.Harris infuses her paintings with a powerful
emotional poignancy which reflects the contemplative drama of the sublime
forces of nature.
The painterly language of Andrea Harris's
gentle emotional realism landscapes reflects her endless quest to
honor the divine beauty, splendor and richness of nature. Her
spiritual meditations on the natural world harmoniously capture the cool
illumination of nature with a deft, rhythmic loose brushstrokes along with a subtly
muted palette. With symphonic precision, this contemporary modern master
translates familiar scenes onto the canvas with a unique perspective,
orchestrated by the delicacy of a palette reflecting cool, subdued hues.
Luminously conceived, her landscape colors are lightly feathered textures which
admirably translate the glory and jubilant majesty of nature. This striking
interplay of colors is portrayed significantly with a contrasting serene
subject matter revealing a contemporary master at work.
Emotionally expressive, Ms. Harris highlights the
visceral intensity and ever-changing moods of nature where light and color are
in constant transition. Hauntingly beautiful, her fluid, organic
compositions relish Mother Nature's lush curves and boundless
energy. Being less concerned with documenting specific
scenes, she is focused on capturing nature's essence- the deeply
profound moments, where there is a connection to a vital energy. Her process
begins with being in nature, where she allows the emotional energy of the
landscape to filter through her psyche. Excelling at depicting the
environment around her, it is not the tangible qualities that are
highlighted in her paintings, but it is also the softly washed memories of a
specific local. The memory is then permanently transcribed onto canvas and
the result is a radiantly dramatic remembrance of nature as she wishes to
evoke remembrances within the viewer's own personal relationship with nature.
Internationally recognized as a painter, an educator
and an art lecturer, Andrea Harris's masterful landscapes have
catapulted her to national and international recognition to become
one of the most celebrated landscape artists, gracing viewers with her
compositions of sky, river, and earth. Brilliantly translating onto canvas
with a syncopated beat the magnificence of nature, award-winning painter Andrea
Harris has participated in a lifetime of immersion in the arts, culminating in
an outstanding body of work and has embarked on a painting career
which has transported her into a meaningful position in the contemporary
art arena. This Chicago-based artist has enjoyed numerous successful
exhibitions throughout Europe and the U.S., and the presence of her
works in prestigious collections across the world, is affirmation of her
continually expanding reputation.
