Andrew Curtis Art

The lockdowns of 2020-2021 have presented all sorts of challenges for me as an artist.

Figuratively, I always work from life. However, online meetings have became a default setting for people to interact.

I decided to produce make a project of images based on weekly meetings of Ukejam, a group of Ukulele players who play along together from the safety of their homes.

This was conceived as a set of individual paintings, presented Zoom-fashion, in small rectangles.

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When working in this fashion, there is a digital veil that comes between the artist and subject. Unfiltered and candid as the individuals present themselves, they are only a part of the picture. The interiors form abstract patterns, and rooms divide into rakish angles with the ephemera of homelife; plugs, photos etc having a poetry of their own. This, together with the “electric” brightness of the digital lighting make for an intriguing insight into contemporary ways of seeing.

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Today this creative anarchy has gradually transformed; people now “curate” their backgrounds and use professional lighting which takes away some of the vitality of the early days.