Visual Arts

Artist Andrew Carnegie is returning to the Chappel Galleries with his collecton of acrylics and collages entitled 'Boundaries Crossed'.

This will be Andrew's first solo exhibition at the gallery, having previously been in involved in 'Roderic Barrett and his Students', where his paintings appeared alongside those of his mentor, the late Roderic Barrett.

The themes in Andrew's exhibition, which continue ideas he has explored throughout his life's work, is summed up by the title. 

"All my work is about crossing boundaries", explains Andrew, "Either ones that are physical - places that I have been to - or more often than not emotional ones.

Andrew began painting in his mid-teens, before moving on to study at the Royal Academy. After spending some years as a professional artist, he then taught for twenty-five years at Highgate Junior School. Now, having taken early retirement, he is back to painting full-time.

Andrew's approach to painting is quite unusual to many of his contemporaries, as he explains: "I'm not a landscape painter in the sense that I don't observe what's in front of me and record it. What I am observing is inward, what's inside."

People's reaction to his art is the most important thing, according to Andrew, even more so than the actual piece of art they are looking at, as he explains. "The exciting thing is seeing how people respond to it and what it sets off in them."

We've been speaking to Andrew about his life and his latest exhibition. Click on the link below to hear more.

'Boundaries Crossed' is at the Chappel Galleries from Saturday, 21, July until Sunday, 12, August.