Artworks by Andy Mercer

Andy Mercer is a self-confessed Randomist or neo-Dadaist, an award-winning and published artist from Lancaster, in the north west of England. His principle interest lies in reinventing the world around him. Mercer’s eye is attracted by all multi-sensory devices of nature and mankind; he enjoys building complex realities, rich in their patterns and rhythms of suburbia. They evolve as naturally as Klee's paintings, constantly changing and providing a viewer with an organic picture that weaves the fabric of society, and are reflected into artist's work.

Mercer’s layers of line, shape, colour, graffito, and personal mark-making are crafted into the atmospheric patchwork of city life. He clearly loves to experiment, investigate media and relishes every nuance of it on the canvas.

When I first found Andy’s work and in particular this series of cityscapes, including Metropolis and Babel, I thought of Paul Klee’s Pedagogical Sketchbook. There seems to be some natural evolutionary law at work, each line and symbol, each motif defining the essence of the metropolis.

I would welcome Andy Mercer’s cityscapes as giant tapestries, wall hangings. Maybe somewhere in the North West England gene pool is the secret textiler, weaving the very fabric of society; and, like all artists, there is the social commentator with a powerful message and a radical thought. (Richard Sunderland)