Artist's CV - Andy J Myers

Andy J Myers

Artist and Maker

 

Education

Aston University 1987-1988     M.Sc. Computer Science with Applications

Keele University 1984-1987     B.Sc. First Class Honours Computer Science

 

Background

Though I've not followed a formal art or artisan training programme it would be ridiculous to call myself a self taught artist or maker since I've watched thousands of hours of YouTube videos, read numerous books and visited art galleries and iconic buildings around the world studying the artworks and artifacts in the context of their time and place.

 

Before becoming a full time artist at the end of 2023, I had a long career as a software engineer and engineering manager in many companies and industries including US Bank, Fidelity Investments, the BBC, Cazenove, AOL, Cisco, Sky, IBM and Reuters amongst many others.

 

I've lived all over the UK; in Athens, Greece; Portland, Oregon and San Francisco but I now call Guildford home and live here with my lovely wife Denise and young adult children Sophie and James.

 

Artistic influences

My influences are manifold but perhaps I've been swayed most directly by Impressionism, Fauvism and Abstract Expressionism. What I can say is that I am obsessed with vibrant colour and the unexpected beauty to be found when you paint in the loosest of manners. Broadly I favour landscapes or seascapes or cosmosscapes with little evidence of mankind.

 

I make a variety of arts and artifacts but everything I make is a one-off, whether it be an angle-ground beech club finding the shape of the club in the log; an oil painting of the most abstract and false coloured mountain range or a table from reclaimed flooring and covered with individually painted tiles protected with epoxy resin. I am no slave to realistic rendition but I hope to capture a reality nonetheless or at least the impression of it or perhaps to state it best: the Platonic ideal viewed through etched crystal or a stained glass window with a storm beating against the glass on a moonlit night. No half measures…

 

Having come from an engineering and management background I can be methodical and accountable when not engaged in artistic interpretation but I can equally let go of the reins when unfettered creativity is called for. These days I find unfettered creativity is called for frequently.

 

As I've mentored many people over the years and built high performing teams as a manager, tech lead and senior developer, I can provide guidance and inspiration and the confidence to just give things a go and I believe everyone can discover an artistic side to themselves if they really want to and the only way to find out if you really want to is to give it a go and not be worried about what other people think! For some their muse will be the local Simonetta Vespucci, for others the sting of nettles as you pluck ripe blackberries for an autumn wine but it will certainly be more real than anything you will view on a flat screen.

 

By mine fruits so shall you judge me. 

 

My online store is viewable here: https://www.cobaltbluearts.com/

My Instagram feed is thus: https://www.instagram.com/cobaltbluearts_ajm/

For your televisual streaming pleasure: https://www.instagram.com/cobaltbluearts_ajm/

Less censorious but equally avaricious viewing: https://rumble.com/v4rjrg0-24x92-mixed-media-paintings.html

My earlier career in IT may be perused at this watering hole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjamesmyers/