We recently connected with Andy Schaner and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Andy, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I definitely wish I had started earlier or rather kept up with the practice I had as a young kid. I didn’t genuinely start painting/creating visually until almost 4 years ago. I had just moved to Pittsburgh and in the throes of difficulty between an ongoing pandemic, global unrest, and a messy breakup. My long-time friend and then roommate, Al, suggested we take a few mushrooms on a day off for an attempt at therapeutic release. He decided to get all of his art supplies out and I haven’t been able to put the brushes down since. We had a large studio space mere days after the experience and I’ve been churning out paintings ever since.

I was always doodling as a child and always loved art class in elementary and middle (shout out Mrs. Watt and Mrs Wertz-Leiden). I put visual art down after 7th grade and haven’t properly taken a class since. I know my technical knowledge would be much more thorough if I had stuck with it for a few more years, but I think my limited curriculums have given way to a more distinctive and individualistic style. I wouldn’t change anything about how I rediscovered my creative self. I feel the synchronicities of life lined up exactly how they were meant to. I was at a point of desperately needing an outlet to properly and organically express myself and the payoffs since have been incredible.

Andy, 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?

I’m a Pittsburgh-based, self-taught mixed media artist and newly discovered zinemaker. I use my practice as a form of joyful resistance and create for my own enrichment, first and foremost. My practice was born from a period of personal turmoil and has been a consistent method of grounding myself and sheer enjoyment for the last four years. I work from an attitude of automatism, opting out of conceptualization. Instead I make a few marks or basic shapes and continue from there. When I’m creating, whatever happens: happens. Keeping my expectations at a minimum allows me to make what I see as a more organic and honest reflection of myself. I just follow the compulsion of the art. I get too hung up on it all when I think too much about what I want to make. I’d rather just create from the subconscious.

I work mostly with acrylic and collage, but I enjoy spray paint, pigment sticks, and occasionally mixed media assemblage. Exploration is half the fun of an artistic practice, so I like to test assorted materials to see what results I can yield. They’re not always great, but they’re always fun. Also, I recently started self-publishing a zine, Pittsburgh Stupid, with a close friend and collaborator. (You can read it in full color at PittsburghStupid.com) I do the art and design for the zine and it’s even led to a bit of freelance work in that field.

Predominantly, I offer paintings, prints, and hand-painted patches to my clients with hopes to add custom painted clothing into the mix. I don’t receive many commissions, but I also think that the style in which I create makes it challenging to accept commissions. Ultimately, I work for my own edification in the hopes that a potential client finds a work evocative by it’s natural state and not from a predetermined basis. A friend recently described my work as ‘anarchopop’ and I think that label is incredibly accurate and will stick. You can view much more of my art on Instagram @_andoart_.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

They are, without a doubt, the biggest disillusionment of art with the exception of AI generated “art.” NFTs take the tangibility out of the art and strip work of it’s powerful presence. They dilute the soul of the artists and turn it into a PDF that lives on someone’s hard drive. Art is meant to be shared with one another, not be firewall protected.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Fund the arts in schools/the public and be a patron of the scene. Art is one of the most powerful community builders for humanity. The arts are an inclusive space of individualistic expression and societally, we should facilitate these sorts institutions and opportunities as opposed to undercutting them. A verdant, blossoming art scene is good for everyone. It teaches us to unabashedly be ourselves: the most radical act.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://PittsburghStupid.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_andoart_/

Image Credits

n/a