Jose Andreu

Bachelor of Fine Arts 1982, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia; Master of Fine Arts in 1986, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. Exhibitions: Bridgeport Art Center; Elmhurst Art Museum; Loyola University Museum of Art; Noyes Cultural Arts Center; The Studios of Key West; Casa Michoacan, Chicago; Poble Espanyol, Montjuic, Barcelona; Casa de Cultura, Habana; South Shore Cultural Center; Lake Forest College; NIU Art Museum; Barat College; Museum of Puerto Rican History and Culture; Klein Art Works; Elgin College; Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City; National Museum of Mexican Art; Beverly Art Center; Wright Museum of Art.

The wonderful pleasure of my years at the School has been to be in an environment where artists indulge their creativity, individually and collectively. My interaction with the artistic masters of the past in the museum and with the community of extraordinary faculty and creative individuals at the school has been stimulating and enlightening. I have learned much as an artist through teaching some of the best art students in the country and it has changed my perspective on the future of art. There is no greater feeling than living a life with aesthetic and expressive purpose. As artists we create wealth in society and as creative individuals we are indeed wealthy.

Poetry is the essence of art. It is consciousness responding to personal and collective experience. I’m interested in a variety of modes of representation and in a post revolutionary art. Historical icons and narratives influence the study of how we construct metaphors and rationalize events. Art is a receptacle for our memories. The source of our pain and joy is the memory of our interactions with others. Like a memory art is a construction. It is similar to a bit of paper turned inside out and folded into an image of personal and collective significance. Nature can be without purpose or goal but humans desire to recognize patterns. Space is not empty. Every point is a place of longing and desire. A notion of those that came before us and the bright potential of what can become. Every folded construction in our mind, every person, every thought remembered in love and in pain becomes a votive.

More than training on techniques, it's about helping individuals develop an authentic relationship with art, a personal relationship that incorporates an awareness of contemporary, cultural, and historical contexts. My teaching can be characterized as process oriented, conceptually driven, and information intensive. It is based on the synesthetic nature of concepts of beauty and on the design principles in form and language.