While you may know the name Andrew Myers as the Southern California-based artist who creates fascinating 3D portraits from thousands of screws, you may not know that he has a whole other body of work consisting of small bronze figures. His carefully crafted sculptures all depict real individuals that Andrew knows closely or has just met. He interviews his subjects about what experiences they're going through in their own lives and uses these stories to create incredibly thought-provoking pieces.
Andrew also takes from his own life experiences and, in a beautiful yet vulnerable way, creates a symbolic piece of work. The sculptures end up reflects what thoughts are running through his head at any given time. For instance, in the piece above, one night Andrew was staring at a fire extinguisher box that said “Break glass in case of emergency.” The thought occurred to him that the heart is the human fire extinguisher, a tool we can use to put out emotional fires we create. So, in the bronze, wood, and glass piece, a figure is seen with one sleeve rolled up, expressing the idea that the hammer can be used at any moment to free the heart and put out the burning fire.
After a recent visit to his art studio, Andrew was kind enough to send us these images. For a deeper experience, make sure to read each of the accompanying stories.
Recycling Tears
In this sculpture, Andrew depicts the emotional suffering faced by a friend while he was going through a divorce. Even after telling himself, “I'm not going to cry anymore,” the model found himself crying yet again hours later. It seems that with enough pain, we can always recycle more tears.
Oh, Life's Unexpected Moments
In this self-portrait of bronze, cement, string, and steel, Andrew wanted to create a sculpture depicting his basic life philosophy. Stability is an illusion; at any moment, the string can be cut, instantly changing one's entire life for better or worse. Anybody can pick up the scissors.
Worth the Weight
In this bronze, wood, and cement sculpture, Andrew expresses the importance–but extreme difficulty–of reaching true forgiveness.
Leap of Faith
This bronze and cement sculpture captures the suffering experienced by a friend going through a divorce. The “leap of faith” is the difficult but essential step of throwing one's “baggage” off the cliff before moving on in life.
Idea Roadblock
In this bronze and cement sculpture, Andrew pays homage to the creative people of this world who are constantly chasing the lightbulb of inspiration, like a donkey after a carrot. One may never reach the lightbulb, but as long as you continue to pursue it, you will at least be moving in the right direction. The only roadblock is self doubt.
Parts of Me Still Shine #1
Created using patina on bronze and twenty-four- karat gold leaf, this original wall-mounted sculpture symbolizes that even during life's hardest trials, some parts of us still shine.
I've Tried It All
In this bronze and cement sculpture, Andrew depicts his view of hope. Though the old man has seemingly tried everything and looks ready to give up, if he just keeps walking, he will soon trip over the gold key.
To show you what goes into an artist's creative process, Andrew recently made this beautiful video called The Self Portrait.
