Andy Ewen reception

In the 1980s and '90s Andy Ewen created illustrations for The New York Times Book Review, The Progressive and Isthmus; more recently his professional life has been at the UW-Madison medical school. But many in Madison will know Ewen as frontman/songwriter for the band Honor Among Thieves. In an artist statement, Ewen describes the work in “Recent Drawings” as “semi-automatic…I just start by drawing a line or a shape, and then let my imagination free associate in a manner akin to lucid dreaming.” The tasting room at Giant Jones is open Wednesday-Saturday; find hours at giantjones.com. A reception takes place from 5-9 p.m. on Feb. 20.

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Andy Ewen

A drawing by Andy Ewen.

A drawing by Andy Ewen.

media release: Andy Ewen: Recent Drawings

The drawings in this exhibit were created using a process I refer to as “Semi-Automatic”. For the most part, I just start by drawing a line or a shape, and then let my imagination free associate in a manner akin to lucid dreaming. When I share my drawings on social media, I usually make up some sort of title to go with them after they are completed. However, for this display of my art, I’m leaving it up to the viewer to provide their own interpretations. All the drawings were created using either a combination of black pen and color pencil or just color pencil on paper. - Andy Ewen

Born in 1955, Andy Ewen lived for the first 18 years of his life in a suburb of New York City on Long Island. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in art in 1980. During the 1980s and '90s he did a fair amount of illustration for publications such as The New York Times Book Review, The Progressive and Isthmus, among others. His work has appeared in gallery shows, but he has little interest in the “art world”. During the late 1990’, Andy decided that the life of a professional illustrator wasn’t for him. In 1997, he was hired by the UW Medical School, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science analyzing ocular images for both research and clinical studies, a position he held for 28 years. Andy has also been the lead singer, guitarist and principal songwriter for Madison’s Honor Among Thieves band for over 40 years. He has also performed and recorded with many other groups and individuals as well as performing solo.