Michael   Andryc  

SELF-PORTRAITURE is a time-honored genre of art studies and practice.  Over the years, I have often found myself the subject or narrator of my pictorial stories. In elementary and high school, I saved myself from bullies with my sense of humor via stories and drawings, usually mocking unsuspecting teachers. A creative writing teacher in high school encouraged me to pursue my writing and art in more serious settings. At the local junior college, I majored in English and took the only formal art class I have had.

  In "Haunted by Picasso..." at left, for example, I show frustration and dismay at trying to learn from one of the greatest influences in modern art while also trying to establish my break-away personal style, subjects, and methods. It is sometimes  difficult to expand proverbial horizons while also honoring major influences of home, ancestry, education, and experience.  To quote another of my favorite artists, Frida Kahlo:  "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best."   - Michael Andryc