Collingwood painter Andrew Peycha has travelled the world to create signature landscapes revealing patterns of colour, light and shape
After a career as an editorial illustrator, Andrew Peycha became a full-time painter in 2000. His quest for patterns of colour, light and shape have led him to travel the world including the Yukon, the Arctic Circle, Greenland and India. In the past year his search for stunning landscapes has taken him to British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador.
“My work has grown with a impressionistic flavour over time, evolving into large areas of colour,” says Peycha of his unique style. “The subjects of these works are a variety of scenes: barns, trees, Georgian Bay, icebergs, tundra, mountains and portraits. The exploration of capturing the moment has lead my style to a more linear and more abstract modern approach that could be described as ‘post-impressionism meets the digital age.’”
Peycha uses a thick application of paint, vivid colours, geometric forms and the distortion of forms for expressive effect, similar to a kaleidoscope or stained glass window, which fragments an image and reassembles it in a new way. “It allows me to reconsider something as familiar as the landscape and emphasize its patterns: the dance of geometry against organic forms, the distinction between depth and distance and the movement created by the placement of colour. My desire is to create an illusion of depth and vibration throughout the image and to capture some of the feeling the landscapes gives to me.”
Peycha’s art is in many public, private and corporate collections throughout the world. Locally, his work is currently being shown in Collingwood at 65 Simcoe Street and at his studio at the Tremont. For more information, visit www.andrewpeycha.com. ❧
