The Color Field Painting of Andy Wing
Andy Wing, an eternal free spirit, did not relate to any one art movement. But color field painting was often used by friends when talking about his larger works.
Color field art is known for large swathes of solid color applied across the canvas, culminating in continual, unbroken, flat surfaces. Color is often the subject of a work with large painted expanses surrounding the viewer.
The style began in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s with Mark Rothko as one of its most famous artists. The style is said to be an outgrowth of abstract expressionism. The latter is often connected to maverick artist Jackson Pollock and associated with more intense, gestural, rapid brushstrokes than the color field style.
Both styles are meditative and come from the subconscious.
The Voice of Nature
Andy Wing often created spontaneously with large, sweeping motions, leading naturally to color field painting.
At his memorial service in 2004, Laguna Art Museum director, Bolton Colburn, explained how Andy worked: "He understood the role of chance in creation. Often, while he worked in his outdoor studio, a leaf or twig would fall onto his painting. Rather than remove the natural detritus, he accepted it as a part of his artwork. The only voice, he consistently listened to was that of nature."
The 6-foot-5 Andy was a standout among Laguna Beach artists and not just because of his height. He was radical politically, artistically and in his lifestyle. He celebrated life on a daily basis, reaching out to others with his generous nature, pursuing spiritual paths and creating thousands of artworks during a career spanning more than 50 years.
Andy's artistic output was extraordinary. He created works in color field painting, as well as in abstract expressionist and assemblage art styles. He produced his compositions from his home studio and patio on Victory Walk in Laguna Beach. He named the street after the Victory Gardens that his New England-bred father created during World War II.
Raggedy Andy
Often referring to himself as Raggedy Andy, he used found objects and recycled materials in his works, including leaves from his Henri Rousseau style garden (that he fertilized with organic compost). Other materials were hair from his dog, Daisy, garbage can lids, ashtrays and clippings from newspapers, magazines and catalogs. He especially liked images of sports figures, musicians, clowns and fashion models.
Using a variety of media, he created canvases, panels and collages, often with Fauve (wild, contrasting, non-descript) colors applied in large color field painting swathes. The resulting pieces have organic/biomorphic shapes and fields, with no figuration, landscape or horizon lines.
Andy's works came from his love of people and nature and from his deep spirituality-including time spent consulting the I Ching and reciting the Buddhist chant, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
Artworks on Walls and Stairway
Andy lived and worked in a compact house of his own design, which was a piece of art itself. The walls and stairway were covered with his artworks. There was furniture he created, such as a tree-bark coffee table and chairs he upholstered. He decorated the bathroom with brightly colored mosaic tiles, and glazed the windows with acrylic paint to look like stained glass.
Andrew Staley Wing was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on Sept. 14, 1931 to writer parents. His father, also a gardener, published articles on gardening and nurtured Andy's profound respect for nature. He received a B.A. in art from Bard College in 1957, an MFA from Cal State Long Beach, then settled in Laguna Beach. He died peacefully on February 2, 2004.
His home/studio was so unique that his two surviving sisters considered turning it into a museum. Instead, his nephew, Adam Kaplan, a professional musician, moved in.
Upon his death, Andy's sister, Nan, found the following among his writings: "Painting is of the spirit. Space is the realization of self. I am a vessel, an instrumentality, a window and a mirror to the reality of light."
