Biography
With a predilection for sensuality and romance, freedom and anarchy, Andy Wauman is best known for simple black-and-white text-based works that aim to restore the overlooked-yet-inherent poetry in found materials. He chooses words and symbols rendered cliché or meaningless by overuse or misuse in the media or popular culture, and endeavors to lead viewers back to their original meaning. The words “heart” formed from compressed scrap metal and “ideal” formed from coal exemplify his use of the waste of mass-production. In other works, Wauman draws on his background in poetry to scribble haiku-like phrases, such as “Temptation city, asphalt stage, black heart of an unoccupied city” or “Obedience life without flesh,” graffiti style. Injecting spontaneous energy from the street into his work, Wauman “creates [his] own contribution to the ‘revolution of everyday life,” as he describes.
