Today we’d like to introduce you to Adela Andea.
Adela, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was born in Romania in the 70’s where being an artist was not a possibility. I moved to United States in 1999 and after spending 5 years working as a paralegal in California, I realized that my calling was art so I moved to Houston and graduated Valedictorian and Summa Cum Laude from the Painting program at the University of Houston. I continued my higher education in studio arts and I received my Master of Fine Arts in New Media, with a minor in Sculpture from University of North Texas, Denton. While earning my master degree, I exhibited extensively with two contemporary art galleries, Anya Tish Gallery in Houston and Cris Worley Fine Arts in Dallas. Pursuing my artistic career was a great decision, I have now an extensive resume, numerous solo shows, museum shows and my work acquired in private, corporate and public collections, in United Stated (California, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Texas) and Internationally (France, Germany, Romania).
I am currently an adjunct professor at Lone Star College and Houston Community College. I am teaching 2D and 3D media, drawing, design and sculpture. I have been a visiting artist, speaker and panelist at Texas Tech University during the sculpture symposium. I was also a visiting artist, exhibitor and speaker for University of Texas, Odessa in 2015. I have several permanent public installations and in progress public work commissions. The most recent permanent public project was for Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, for the Human Sciences Building.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My art offers opportunities to investigate the visual significance of the contemporary technologies. It provides a commentary on the individual interaction; theoretical discussion of the post-traditional self and how certain technologies are embedded in our culture.
My work relies on manmade materials to create artificial environments that suggest “beauty” assigned to the natural landscapes. My installations insist on the visual transformation of inorganic into organic matter, and the blending of the organic with geometric. The aesthetic aspects of my art comment on the antithetic perception of real vs. artificial or organic vs. geometric. This separation between nature and machine is inherit since the industrial revolution. The more recent understandings of the terms replace the ditochtomy with a new hybrid form of expression. The infusion of my art with the new technologies relies on the most recent technological advances in field of light and electronics, which are also well received through consumer perspective. My work utilizes better technologies that can improve the environment by consuming less energy. The balance between nature and technological progress is still fragile; however, my art is not treating as antithetical.
My artistic medium is light, but in my work this medium does not exist by itself. I use all aspects of this technology as visual elements in the creation of my work. For example, each cable connecting components becomes important and it is manipulated to create an interesting effect. All the electronic components are transformed into a story about the technology of the moment. The light installations and artworks are filled with various recycled plastic materials that are changing the perception of the light and advances the phenomenology of light in the art field.
My art investigates not only the implications of consumerism on post constructed self, but the link between culture and individual through the various technologies. There are current discursive practices continuing from the perspective of the semiotics mechanism the conversation with new and exciting information that connects the aesthetic and use of technology to the individual perception of the art work, define the context of the work in the individual experience as a sign of communication, construction of the self-based on this infusion of technology into the gamut of human activities.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
My role as an artist is to present ideas of progress and science, when it relates to nature. My position is to bring awareness on modern technologies that are environmentally friendly by means of increased efficiency: create the same effect but use less resources like energy. The evolution and progress in technical field is not an enemy to environment but rather its biggest supporter. New discoveries enable traditional industries to create efficient processes that are better attuned to our surroundings. Adopting an attitude of restriction stands in the way of progress.
Any technical equipment or objects carry meaning, in the form of signs, which are social constructs that stand for their utility, define the purpose of certain activities, and/or facilitate new types of communication. The meaning of my work comes from revealing and exposing the role of certain technology in the formation of the person as a cultural framework of the post self, by analyzing this idea in contemporary coordinates, as time and place. I hope also to emphasize the role of artist associated with new media mediums in the current main cultural and social movements, to place the meaning of their artworks in the context of the present technological developments and to point to their social, cultural and political impact.
By revealing the scale of personal expressiveness through new technologies, the aesthetic discourse is questioned by the presence of consumer electronics as an art subject and material. The self-referential materials allow the viewer to become consumers once again. As for myself, as an artist, it is a way to escape engrained aesthetics and recharge the art making process.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I am represented by
Anya Tish Gallery
Phone: 713.524.2299
4411 Montrose
Houston, Texas 77006
anya@anyatishgallery.com
http://www.anyatishgallery.com/
Cris Worly Fine Arts
1845 Levee Street, Suite #110
Dallas, TX 75207
Phone: 214-745-1415
http://www.crisworley.com/
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.adelaandea.com/
Image Credit:
Courtesy of the artist, Adela Andea and Anya Tish Gallery, Houston and Cris Worley Fine Arts, Dalas.
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