ANDREW SALGADO

Andrew Salgado’s paintings have evolved greatly in style since the large-scale, painterly portraits he began painting about a decade ago, where large swathes of colour played across the surface to define his subjects. In his most recent work – the representational has given way to the more abstract. Now colourful, symbolic, and compositional elements are the driving force of the painted image, but a complex interweaving of figures remain a common thread.

Today his subjects are depicted in a fantastical, often ominous tableaux, with any combination of patterns, abundance, and excess play upon the painted surface, including harlequin-like figures, the motif of a heavy, low-hanging moon; or other unrecognisable figurative shapes sift in and out of the composition, partially obscured or partially revealed. Where there once was a desire to place the figure at the forefront of the image, now there is a kind of harmonious cacophony that creates a sort of chaotically orchestrated puzzle.

There are abundant references to the tradition of figurative painting both historic and contemporary: Matisse, Gauguin, and Bacon are all readily recalled; while contemporary greats like Tal R, Daniel Richter, and Peter Doig are also referenced with equal reverie and respect – often like quiet in-jokes for a viewer to catch.

ANDREW SALGADO (b. 1982, Regina, Canada) graduated with an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art in 2009, and is regarded as one of the United Kingdom’s leading figurative painters. He has exhibited worldwide, with solo exhibitions including London, New York, Tokyo, Miami, Toronto, Cape Town, Sydney, and throughout Europe.

Solo exhibitions include: Tomorrow I'll Be Perfect, presented by BEERS London, Saatchi Gallery, London (2023); CAN Art Fair, Ibiza, Spain (July 2023); Good Things, Piermarq*, Sydney, Australia (2023); The Lotus Eaters, Maki, Tokyo, Japan (2022);  A Never-Setting Sun, BEERS London (2022); Strange Weather, BEERS London (2020); Paperbag Prince, Untitled Art Fair, Miami (2019); Blue Rainbow, Angell Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2018); Dirty Linen/The Nihilist’s Alphabet, Christopher Moller Gallery, Cape Town, SA (2018); A Room with a View of the Ocean, Lauba, Zagreb, Croatia (2017), TEN, Canadian High Commission, London (2016) and; The Snake, BEERS London (2016).

Group exhibitions include: Fierce Form, Art Megastar, Los Angeles (2024); 13-A-Dozen, Galleri Sanberg, Odense, Denmark (2023); Showstopper, Saatchi Gallery, London (2022); Come Out & Play, BEERS London (2022); PINK, Piermarq*, Sydney, Australia (2022); paper. , BEERS London (2022); Paperwork’s Vol. II, NBB Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2021); John Wolf presents … Interconnected, Los Angeles (2021); BEERS London at Zona Maco Art Fair, Mexico City (2019); Berlin Calling, Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin, Germany (2018); Summer Salon, BEERS London (2018) and; The Therapist’s Office, 1969 Gallery, New York (2018).

In 2017, Salgado was the youngest artist ever to receive a survey exhibition at The Canadian High Commission in London. He has received extensive press both online and in print, and he frequently donates to charities and is a frequent advocate for LGBT causes. His works have successfully entered the secondary market with prices frequently doubling their estimates, including a piece at Phillips New York selling for five times its estimate in June 2021.

His works have been collected extensively, including The Oketa Collection, The Royal Bank of Canada Collection, The Masahiro Maki Collection, Government of Canada, The Jordanian Royal Family, Simmons & Simmons, the Esquinazi Collection, Edwin Oostmeier Collection, and more.

He lives and works in London, England.