We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andres Michelena. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andres below.

Andres, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I was raised in a family that breathed art. On my father’s side, visual art was permanently present, on my mother’s side, poetry and literature. Besides that, my siblings are all, in some ways, influenced by either one and sometimes both of these powerful currents.
Since childhood, I always thought about being an architect, and when the time came, I began studying architecture at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. With only two semesters left until graduation, I took an elective, “Taller Ventrillon,” focused on freehand drawing and the reproduction of sculptural pieces, directed by Pedro Leon Zapata and Ramon Leon. It was at that moment, and thanks to them, that my true calling became evident. A few months later, I found myself in the halls of the Federico Brandt Institute, pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Andres, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

After this profound change, I began working primarily in painting and two-dimensional works, and even had several exhibitions in various important galleries in Venezuela. This situation continued for several years until the country’s political changes made me consider emigrating. Thus, in 2000, my wife and our daughter traveled to Miami with the initial idea of ​​trying a new experience for a year. The persistence of problems in my country led to a prolonged stay. First, it was the O-1 visa, then residency, and finally citizenship. In total, I’ve lived in the same city for more than 25 years. This shift greatly influenced my work. I began to experiment with other media and other thematic interests, which remain parameters of my work today. Two of the main motivations are, on the one hand, the spiritual in art and, on the other, emptiness, the latter being the most complex and the one that produces the greatest interest and concern in me. My quest focuses on the sublime as an inescapable and unapproachable experience, and the difficulty of human beings in relating to any manifestation of emptiness, in any area of ​​life, in my opinion, creates that possibility.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

This has posed an intrinsic difficulty in marketing my work, which, far from impeding it, has actually propelled it, forcing me to develop production strategies that perhaps would not have emerged otherwise. One of the most relevant examples lies in the need for sustenance versus artistic production. Over these 25 years, my time has been divided between these two activities, which ultimately reflect a reality. The solution… my attitude! If the sky rains lemons, make lemonade! This translates into practice by using the resources at hand from my side projects, materials, and methods of making. As Marcel Duchamp famously said, what interested him most about the word “art” was its Sanskrit meaning, “to make.”

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being an artist is a way of inhabiting the world. Feeling blessed for that, I am a human being, whose assumed role is that of an artist, but I am a human being first and foremost.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.andresmichelena.art
• Instagram: andres_michelena

Image Credits

Personal Photo: Leslie Gabaldon Photography

Artworks:

1-2-3 Antonio Reyes /

4-5-6 Rafael Guillen /

12-13-14-15-16 Mariano Costa Peuser

(7-8-9-10-11-17 No credits)