Provenance:

Private Collection, Toronto

Note:

With a mix of drawing, painting, printmaking, and animation, Toronto-based artist Stephen Andrews questions the role of personal memory and visual interpretations in his contemporary art practice. Focusing on themes of identity, technology, the human body and their representations in various forms of media, Andrews illustrated many portraits of men in the 1980s who died of AIDS or AIDS-related causes. The 1989 etching Cry Me a River (1989) is one such example. Andrews was greatly impacted by the virus and its effects, choosing to express himself and the people he lost through art. Here we see a group of men mourning the loss of a friend, exposing themselves both literally and figuratively to the effects of the epidemic.

Andrews has said that one of the characteristics he most values in his art is the “ability to fail miserably.” With that in mind he has always allowed himself to experiment with various techniques that give weight to his chosen topics and encourage self-reflection, no matter the form.

The work of Stephen Andrews can be found in many prestigious collections throughout North America including the Art Gallery of Ontario; the Schwartz Collection at Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts); Canada Council Art Bank; the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (Toronto) and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.