Andrew Portwood’s art is a manifestation of his own life experiences. He creates works that echo these personal experiences and the feelings connected to those experiences. Dreams and emotions inspire his creative process and provide a basis for his lyrical portraits, figures and Abstracts.
Portwood began his artistic career in Atlanta, Georgia and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Auburn University in 1984. Working in advertising, graphic arts and book illustration, he built a lucrative career in advertising as a concept artist.
Now residing in New Orleans, Portwood is busy in his studio creating his personal artwork, Abstract Expressionism & lyrical Abstraction….balancing his time between large canvas paintings, drawings, and smaller abstract monotypes. His work is sometimes based on realism but is at times abstractly rendered. In his skillfull pencil drawings, Portwood is constructing visual narratives through the expression of figure and line.
Andrew Portwood Artist's Statement and Bio, 2024
“When I am painting, I am just dreaming out loud“.
“My pictures are personal statements rendered through a dialogue between materials, echo’s of my own personal experience, and the emotions connected to those experiences. I prefer to take a narrative approach by giving the viewer signposts and only starting points for their free associations and interpretations. It is then up to the viewer to find and complete their own story and dialogue.”
Working from memories and the "mind's eye", dreams and emotions inspire my creative processes and provide a basis for my portraits, figures and landscapes.
I think that art is a creative manifestation of one's own accumulated life experiences….the subconscious mind's need to translate one's present state into visual clues, symbols, pictures, and daydreams for self-explanation of life and existence. I am seeking, struggling for, and arriving at tangible images of personal understanding.
Education
Auburn University, School of Visual Art and Design Bachelor of Fine Art, 1984
Awards
1984, Illustration appearing in Print Magazine Regional Design Annual.
1987-2000, Free-lance artist creating artworks for advertising and corporate clients, design firms and various publishers of literature for children.
1998, Junior Library Guild Award for illustrated children’s picture book
Dragon scales & Willowleaves, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York 1998.
1999, Cover art commission for Knock At A Star: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry, compiled by X.J. and Dorothy M. Kennedy. published by Little, Brown, Boston
Illustrated by Andrew Portwood and Karen Lee Baker.
Exhibitions
Heaven Blue Rose Gallery, Group show, Atlanta, GA 2006
Aliya Linstum Gallery, Atlanta, Ga, Scott Hill, The traveler’s diary,
Introducing Andrew Portwood, Middle gallery, March 17- April 6, 2007
Aliya Linstrum Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Andrew Portwood, Margaret Dyer ,Sept. 8-29, 2007
Aliya Linstrum Gallery, Atlanta, GA , Equus Curatio, Group show, Oct. 6-26 2007
Aliya Linstum Gallery, Atlanta, GA ,Group show, Holiday Exhibition Dec 27, 2007
River Gallery, Feb 1-29, 2008, Chattanooga,TN
A different story, Andrew Portwood, Mary Cour Burrows Joan Rasmussen
Bennett Gallery, Nashville, TN, Artrageous, Group show, November, 2009
The Mercantile, Atlanta, GA 2009-2011
The Nicholson Gallery, Atlanta, GA 2010 - 2013
Pryor Fine Art Gallery, Atlanta, 2-week Pop-Up show, October 2014
Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta, Small Works Show , 2014
Muse Gallery, Roswell GA , 2015
14th Street Antiques, Atlanta, GA, 2016
MacGryder Gallery, 615 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA, 2018
6 charcoal figure drawings exhibited July 7, 2018, group show,
Meyer Vogl Gallery, Charleston, SC, 2021,
Love Story, a group exhibition, June 4-25, 2021
Meyer Vogl Gallery,
Mixtape, group exhibition, Dec 3-23, 2021
Good On Paper, group exhibition, March 4-25
Bright Ideas, Diane Eugster & Andrew Portwood
June 3rd- 24th, 2022
Meyer Vogl Gallery, Choose Your Own Adventure, group exhibition, June 2-23, 2023
LilyPad West Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, “Into the Night” exhibition, Nov. 1- Dec. 31, 2023
Jillian Mac Gallery, 3923 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA
Guest artist, Block Party Magazine Street, August 3rd, 2023,
Full Circle, Group Show, Dec. 2, 2023
Press
Chattanooga Times Free Press Sunday, January 27, 2008 “A Different Story” Narrative is the common denominator among the artists featured at the River Gallery In February
Equestrian Quarterly Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3
"The Imaginary Equines of Andrew Portwood" by Stephanie Peters
Art + Design Magazine, Art of Living/ Spring 2018, Issue No. 18
Page 44, des Objets pour les hommes, Harlequin Horse, by Andrew Portwood, monotype on paper, 17” x 13”.