Andy Smith (AVS) lives in Old Dixton Road. He is not a professional artist. He
had several public showings of his work during the late 1970s and throughout the
1980s, but has not exhibited since 1988. Because he was in hiding during a
custody-battle, he first exhibited under the name of David Long. Later showings
were under his own name.
Andy began as a pen and ink specialist, mainly working in black and white. Later
he made some colour pen and ink illustrations for children, and augmented some
B&W pen and ink drawings with air-brush and acrylic colour. Recent work has
largely been in acrylic and mixed media.
His drawings are often political and emotionally charged. A common theme is the
contrast between heavy geometric lines and organic forms that are constrained or
trapped by the shapes surrounding them. His paintings develop that contrast into
an essentially optimistic fascination with the decay of man-made artefacts:
drawing comfort from the fact that nature and atrophy can be relied on to erase
all of mankind’s “finest” constructions. Andy believes that there is beauty in
“tombstones” and this is what draws people to the ruins of obsolete buildings
and past civilisations.
After winning custody Andy was briefly a school teacher before getting involved
in development work overseas. He has worked all around the world, specialising
in the safe removal of landmines since 1994. (See his website
www.nolandmines.com ) .
Click on a thumbnail to see a larger image. The detail should reward zooming in.
These pictures can be downloaded and printed freely. If originals or signed
prints are wanted, contact the webmaster and he will put you in touch with Andy.
