Life in Translation: Andrew Myers 090624

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Life in Translation: Andrew Myers on display at the Honarkar Foundation

By MARRIE STONE

Photos by Jeff Rovner

At the center of Andrew Myers’ current show on display at the Honarkar Foundation sits One Man’s Trash. It’s an old piece of factory machinery Myers recently found lying in the dirt on his five-acre farm. Like many things in his life, once Myers discovered it, he looked beyond the object and soon saw the metaphor.

“Someone designed that,” he said. “Someone built it. And then someone put it to work for a long time, using it to make a living. Then it got discarded. But I saw the beauty in it.” The tool reminded Myers of what happens to people. Their jobs are automated, they get down on their luck, or they grow older. “If you bathe and clothe a human, and give them new life, you’ll see what’s truly inside.”

Myers decided to gold leaf every square inch of the rusted metal, hoping one day the old apparatus might find its way into a museum where it could finally be appreciated. This summer, it did.

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“One Man’s Trash” (2024) is part of Andrew Myers’ exhibition on display at the Honarkar Foundation through September 14

One Man’s Trash illustrates how Myers’ artistic mind works. He captures complex emotions, deep psychological truths and nuanced behaviors, and translates them into visual works of art that convey our universal life experiences. He’s equal parts an astute observer of the human condition and a self-reflective practitioner. He’s also a born artist – more self-taught than trained – capable of working across many mediums in wholly unique ways.

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Andrew Myers with two pieces in his ongoing sculpture series, “Parts of Me Still Shine”

Now through September 14, a sampling of Myers’ enormous artistic range is on exhibition at the Honarkar Foundation. Twenty-five original works that represent more than two decades showcase Myers’ drawings, paintings and sculptures as well as the “Screw Art” for which he is most well-known.

Locals might recognize Myers both by his name and artistic style. He opened the Andrew Myers Gallery on Forest Avenue in May 2023. He created The Shopper in 2004, a bronze sculpture of a woman with shopping bags permanently installed on the northeast corner of Ocean Avenue and Beach Street. His art also hangs in several local restaurants, including Broadway by Amar Santana and 230 Forest.

When Myers arrived at Laguna College of Art + Design (LCAD) in 1999, he came with no portfolio or artistic experience. He was told he needed two years of coursework to develop his skillset. “That’s not how I work,” Myers told them. “My character is to start and put in a lot of effort to be good.” When LCAD challenged him to produce six drawings in a week, they couldn’t believe the results. “You swear you’ve never taken an art class?” they asked him. He was admitted the next day on partial scholarship.

But by 2002, Myers had taken every sculpture class LCAD offered and dropped out to pursue a career on his own. When the recession hit in 2008, the demand for sculptures dried up, but the market for paintings stayed strong. So, Myers simply reinvented himself.

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Andrew Myers at work on a sketch in his Laguna Canyon studio

“I started thinking about bas-relief [an artistic technique that involves lightly carving a design into a surface, like a coin, meaning the picture is raised up from a flat background],” Myers said. “I was at the studio one day and saw these screws. I thought if I put them close enough together, I could shape them like a sculpture. I did a portrait and it just looked like that pin-art toy you stick your hand into – not very successful. Then I thought of painting the portrait on top of the screws. The whole thing was an exploration because I had no idea what to do next. Every step was very inventive. But when I painted the portrait, I realized there was potential. They’ve evolved so much. I started adding subject matter and narrative, making them more thoughtful than traditional portraits.”

The result is a wholly unique body of work known as “Screw Art” that not only represents Myers’ inner life, but what he observes of the world and people around him. Most of his pieces are narratives, inspired by his own struggles or things the people around him are grappling with. The process usually begins at the kitchen table, where Myers identifies an emotion or situation he wants to portray. He jots down a list of objects, animals, or other thoughts on paper. It becomes a puzzle he tries to solve, matching up objects to create an emotional resonance.

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The Deception, for example, depicts a hummingbird drinking nectar from a beautiful flower. The flower isn’t planted in a garden but in a can of gasoline. The work was borne out of a long-term on-again-off-again relationship that Myers said has caused a lot of heartache. “Whether she’s the flower, the bird or the gas can, I don’t know,” he said.

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“The Deception” (2018) mixed media on wood panel

Fight or Flight – which shows a set of scales weighing a boxing glove on one pan against a feather on the other – was borne out of the same relationship. “It’s a commentary on different types of personalities,” he said. Some people walk away when things get difficult, and some stick around to fight for it.

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“Fight or Flight” (2024) mixed media on wood panel

Depending on the size, a given piece might contain anywhere between 1,000 and 20,000 screws. They’re placed at various depths to create a three-dimensional sculpture arising out of a two-dimensional flat surface. Then, once arranged, Myers paints the screws, leaving the final step – something he’s developed over time that makes his work inimitable – a mystery.

The exhibition also contains some of Myers’ sculptural work done in 2003, after he left LCAD and before the screw pieces began. Don’t Harp On It, a bronze sculpture embedded with Koa wood and brass guitar strings, stretches nearly three feet long and is nearly just as tall. “I did that sculpture when I was still developing my subject matter and trying to find a voice. I liked the negative space and thought I’d turn it into an instrument.”

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“Don’t Harp On It” (2003)

A few years later, he produced Leap of Faith and Recycled Tears, both inspired by a friend who was going through a divorce. “He was crying every day. One day he said, ‘I’m done. I’m done crying.’ Then, 20 minutes later, he was crying again. I said, ‘Well, since you’re here, why don’t you sit for a sculpture.’ It’s called Recycled Tears because, just when you think you’re out of tears, you’ll find yourself recycling them.”

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“Recycled Tears” (2006) bronze, cement and zebra wood

But some of the most interesting works (at least to me) come from Myers’ “Life 101” series. The charcoal and ink sketches are done on 27-inch x 21-inch notebook paper, giving the appearance of an academic assignment graded by an instructor. But the instructors are the subjects themselves, grading their own performance in this big project called life.

The Honarkar exhibition contains two such pieces – Andrew (self-portrait) and Eric – both done in 2012. But he produced roughly 15 of these in total. The series began in the wake of Myers’ divorce, a time of intense self-reflection and assessment. Myers gave himself a D-minus. “Your critical thinking has made you a critical person.” “How can you let any love in with such a thick sweater!” And, the final comment, “Andrew, I would hate to see you fail my class! I see potential but there is a lot of room for improvement!”

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“Andrew” and “Eric” (2012) flank “Don’t Harp On It”

The series included friends and Hollywood actors (like Law & Order SVU’s Chris Meloni). But it got intense. Myers sat with his subjects, asking them hard questions that required the same self-reflective lens he willingly used on himself. But not everyone was up to that task. When forced into it, it led a few to some dark places.

“You have to be extremely real,” Myers said. “I realized I’m not a therapist. I don’t have a degree in therapy. When that happened, it was hard for me. Then I had to go back and make all these comments based on that intense experience. I decided that was my last one. I haven’t done anymore.”

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Andrew Myers outside his studio on Laguna Canyon Road reflecting on a work in progress, “Parts of Me Still Shine”

Myers’ strength lies both in his range and in his willingness to dive deep into his own psyche for authentic material. But his superpower might lie in his fierce protection of his own artistic independence.

“My goal was always to be unique and come up with things other people aren’t coming up with,” he said. “I don’t go to many art shows. I don’t look at other artists’ work. I feel like all that stuff rubs off on you without you even knowing it. Then you find yourself doing something that’s very similar to someone else. So, I keep to myself in the art world.”

In 2013, Myers produced another of those “Life 101” charcoal sketches entitled How to Create a Self-Portrait. The instruction manual doses out artistic “medications” like inspiration, passion and knowledge while Myers stands holding a stethoscope to his heart. He advises vision (two drops daily to the eye while avoiding alcohol); creativity (take daily in the morning and, if unproductive symptoms persist, take twice a day) and inspiration. He acknowledges insecurity (accompanied by a warning that it may cause anxiety, confusion, panic, constipation and nausea), and advises hope (apply liberally as needed for the temporary relief of self-induced despair).

Whatever the formula for creating a successful artist, Myers seems to have it nailed. At barely 40 years old, there are plenty of chapters left to be written. The ones already in the books tell a compelling tale.