Life & Work with Andy Vible

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andy Vible.

Hi Andy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Wilmington, DE in 1989. When I was three or four years old before I was in kindergarten I had a strong desire to be good at drawing and from first grade to 8th grade I was the kid in class that was always drawing. I went to an all male catholic high school where I was the alternative art kid, also kind of a popular loner. I went to study art at the Maryland Institute Collage of Art in Baltimore and graduated in 2012. While I was in college and after I graduated I have been making art and continue to do so to this day. In 2013 I moved back to my hometown Wilmington, where I still reside. Since moving back I have had various jobs at galleries and museums as a curator and preparator and have been exhibiting my work both locally and nationally. I currently live and work in my studio in Wilmington.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I consider myself very blessed but there have been some challenges along the way. I struggled with alcoholism from around 2014-2016. When I was reaching my lowest point I miraculously found some photographs of my mom in a dumpster in downtown Wilmington while I was installing an art show. The discovery of these photos also synchronized with other things that crossed my path at the time. I took this as a sign/synchronicity from God or something greater than myself that I needed to turn my life around. A few months later I went to rehab and got sober and have been alcohol, drug and nicotine free ever since. I celebrated my 10th year of sobriety this year in February. One major component to my journey in sobriety was that I started a habit of running every day. I started to regularly run 3-6 miles a day and I would challenge myself to see how many days in a row I could run. This challenge snowballed into a 4 year running streak that lasted from September 30, 2016 to September 30, 2020.

Throughout this time I would regularly go to AA meetings where I learned about and went through the 12 steps. One thing I learned about that method is that it stemmed from a psychological teaching of Carl Jung. Basically the secret to the 12 steps that Jung identified is that it’s supposed to create a spiritual experience. This spiritual experience is key to staying sober. Jung had influenced me and my art before I got sober so this aspect of the recovery process really caught my attention. About a year into my sobriety I read Jung’s “Red Book”. In this book, he documented and interpreted his experiences with delving into the depths of his psyche and interacting with his subconscious worlds.

About 3/4 through my running streak (mid to late 2019) I also stared an additional habit where I would end my runs in a local park, hike down a trail and meditate in the woods. While I meditated I got a flood of creative ideas which I would run home and document. I kept doing this until it formed a free-flowing narrative that I like to call the “Grand Vision”. I feel like the “Red Book” unconsciously inspired the “Grand Vision” to take form in the way that it did. Initially, in my mind I considered the finding of the photographs of my mother my “spiritual experience”, but I now consider my running, meditating, inner exploration and the visualization of the “Grand Vision” my spiritual experience, in part, because it is now my life’s goal to complete.

I would say that “Grand Vision” is not as ominous as “Red Book”. Red Book is Jung’s decent into darkness, Grand Vision is like a journey to the center of the soul, where you conquer your inner demons and discover your true self.

There were and still are other hurdles that one day I might share but I have been very open about my struggles with alcohol and addiction and will continue to be open in hopes that it will inspire others who find themselves in a similar place in their lives.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
A friend of mine once described my work as “surreal realism” which I thought was a good description and term. I jump around from medium to medium, but I do many types of art including painting, drawing, sculpture, murals, collage, street art, music and more. In college I would say I focused most on sculpture, post graduation I focused mostly on painting and as of recent, I really think I’ve been hitting my stride with collage. Just to clarify, by collage I mean physically cutting out images or pieces from magazines and books, arranging them and gluing them down on a surface with paste. People seem to love them and it’s very fun for me to work in this medium. My collages are very dense with texture, color, lighting, images, and saturation. They also have a lot of hidden images scattered throughout the piece, not dissimilar to “I Spy” books. Collage I feel like has not historically been explored artistically as much as say painting or sculpture or others. It is a medium I am currently trying to push the boundaries with. Last year I was in a group show at the Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington where I had three of my collages on display. After a positive opening reception, I was driving home with my cousin and Jimi Hendrix “Red House” started playing and I told him I want to be the Jimi Hendrix of collage, i.e. the GOAT.

The project I’m currently working on now might be my most ambitious art project yet. Right now it is an 8’x5’ collage on wooden panel. I may add extensions to make it a full 8’x8’ square when everything is said and done. The subject is a meditating old wise man/psychopomp figure. It blends elements from eastern spiritual iconography with western mythological and alchemical symbolism and includes hints of modern day characteristics. It will be a statement on many things including the depth of our internal world and how it interacts with the external world, feeding the homeless, the power you have as an individual, what makes us all equal as humans, and the promise of America that is laid out in the constitution. It’s an effort to help provide the imagery necessary to unify us all behind the interconnectedness of humanity and nature, the divinity of the soul, and the rawness of existence. In the era of 24 hour news cycle, social media and smart phones, we are bombarded with information daily. I’m trying to offer some wisdom, light, and direction in this fast paced and strife filled era. Almost like a North Star. It seems like we are at a crossroads where a new world is trying to be born. This new world may include returning to or getting back in touch with our roots and remembering our purpose. I’m trying to answer the “what’s next” that I picture for this new world.

What matters most to you? Why?
Authenticity and integrity. Be true to yourself but leave room to grow/improve yourself. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes but you should also learn from your mistakes. I believe in being uncompromising with your art. Whether a piece takes 5 min, 5 days, 5 months or 5 years (or more), each one is valid. Authenticity in that it should be about “am I being authentic to my artistic vision?” Although things like deadlines and certain limitations are not always bad. Sometimes it’s a good exercise if you are limited or you limit yourself in a certain way to see what you come up with. “No limitations” could also potentially be its own kind of limitation. And integrity as far as how you carry yourself as a person in this world. How are you when things don’t go your way? How are you when things do go your way? I’m a big believer in cause no harm but take no shit.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.andyvible.com/
• Instagram: @fatfigers