Studio visit with Salem artist Andrew Carr

Salem artist Andew Carr with some of his work. All images courtesy of the artist.

This story first appeared on Art Throb on August 9, 2009.

Andrew Carr describes himself as “a normal, all-American kid,” and by many accounts, he is. I met with Andrew in his second-floor art studio on North Street in Salem and discussed his work, his passions, and his future, and I came to find that Andrew Carr may be All-American, may even be normal, but he’s not common.

Andrew prefers his hometown, Salem, to the “beehive,” his term of endearment for the noisy, aggressive, overpriced, and overcrowded New York scene. His stay in New York City was short-lived after graduating from Rhode Island School of Design, where his passion for realism collided with the school’s conceptualism-favoring code of creative conduct. While most young artists pin high hopes on getting into the school, Andrew speaks of his stay there with frustration and a hint of regret. But RISD was just a bump in a long journey that started when he was in the second grade, when he made the decision to become a painter.

Andrew Carr illuminating his own model.

His painting career, which began at the ripe old age of “around eight years old,” was nurtured by his parents, who fostered a tutelage under the late Ken Herwitz. Some of his favorite memories as an artist were formed while studying with the classical painter. Fondly remembering the times with his teacher, he said, “If I could go back and paint with him again, that would be incredible.”

Andrew has done well to honor the memory of his teacher by creating the Art School Salem, fostering the talents of young artists whose passion for drawing and painting match his own. He teaches his students the same way he was taught, by studying the masters, by learning the classic crafts of drawing and painting, and through art history study.

After finding his way home to Salem, he had a flood of ideas. In his studio, his work, which nearly fills his space, ranges from classical Whistler-style portraits and Hopper-esque solitary night scenes, to a newly formed body of etchings called “Tag, You’re It.” This series portrays the college party scene, which he observes with fascination from a distance, admitting he needs peer-pressure to get out of the studio to have a drink or two.

"Prom Queen"

His pivotal piece, “Prom Queen,” is the one that catches my eye. “Prom Queen” was created after his mother told him about a national portrait competition whose deadline was only a month away. During that month, he labored 16-hour work days, layering what he believes to be more than a dozen varied stages of the painting until he achieved its final results.

He was rejected from the competition, but was okay with the outcome. “Every major painter was rejected from a major national competition. That’s how they formed the Salon de Refuse,” he says happily, knowing he is in good company.

But “Prom Queen” was more than an entry for a competition; it was a turning point in Andrew’s approach to painting. He does not use one spot of pure white as a highlight. The entire painting is done with the goal of using only vibrant colors, maintaining the vibrancy of each color, while keeping the tonality of the painting grounded in realism.

“Prom Queen” not only exemplifies his new theories of color; it also marks his breaking away from the studiousness of techniques of the masters’ works and finding his own voice. The piece is about the All-American moment, when the light shines on us for a moment in our youth, and if only for moment, we are vibrant.

More important than the girl in the painting, however, is the dress. Andrew’s primary focus on the dress while preparing for the international competition is also translated conceptually. The prom dress, arguably symbolic of a young lady’s foray into womanhood in the United States, becomes more important to the wearer than the event itself.

Although he talks about his time at RISD with some regret for not having gone to a “regular” four-year college, the conceptual atmosphere affected him. While he still grounds the basis for his eloquently rendered technique in realism, the subject matter itself has become more conceptual.

He finds his subject matter almost viscerally. “I look for what moves me, it’s almost indefinable. It could be a sound, a smell, a pattern, a feeling of discomfort. Right now I’m noticing things with saturated colors.”

It was noticing patterns that led to his fascination with TV snow, which in turn became a series of drawings and etchings of those patterns. A photograph of a television screen could not achieve the clarity and tonal accuracy of the snow as he has rendered it in this series. They appear to be rubbings of a television, if that were possible.

He tried to exhibit the work at a local TV station on the day of analog-digital switch-over. Although he wasn’t successful in finding exhibition space, he launched the work on his website, www.andrewcarr.net and learned an important lesson in lead time when pursuing an exhibition opportunity.

Andrew finds that the hardest thing about being an artist is making a living at his craft, but more and more students are seeking him out for instruction. Art education advocacy has become a passionate pursuit of his, and he has been working his way to the state house to fight for the continuation and betterment of art education in Massachusetts. To parents whose children enjoy drawing or the like, he says, “Encourage it. A lot of kids love doodling, but because it’s not fostered… The chances of becoming a great mathematician or a great scientist are just as slim as becoming a great artist.”

Andrew’s love for his hometown, for American culture, for the American Masters, indeed defines him as All-American, as does his whole-hearted pursuit of following his childhood dream of becoming a painter. What sets him aside from his peers is his absolute and unwavering dedication to his profession. While he is not completely unique in this, he is uncommon.

“Lots of great artists are from Salem, and I think they need another one,” he says laughing, ending our interview with a flash of his All-American grin.

To reach Andrew Carr, learn more about him or see his portfolio, check out his quirky site, www.andrewcarr.net.

"Round Em Up Cowboy," Oil, 21 X 36

"Portrait of a Crush," Oil, 34 x 44

"Thin Envelope," Oil, 24 X 20