Andrew Tyzack
Bombus Americana
£3,250.00
Oil on canvas
90cm x 166cm
Andrew Tyzack is a graduate of the Royal College of Art. He jokingly refers to his practise as the ‘School of Anorak’, a reference to his meticulous approach to painting whole hives of bees in obsessive, taxonomic detail. He finds himself (the solitary artist) amongst social insects, painting the entire bumblebee communities of Britain, Europe and America. Where he renders the bumblebees’ pile coats in their specific patterns and colours (like miniature Mark Rothko paintings). Presented in order of species and caste, he sees the bee as a symbol of unity and cooperation, and alludes to their importance as pollinators and the fragility of the natural world.
Andrew’s recent commissions include portraits, a ‘triptych’ of drawings based on the ‘seductions by Zeus’ in the guise of various animals, and ‘rehearsal drawings’ at the Royal National Theatre, London. Which are now represented in the Carl Heinz archive at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and at the Victoria and Albert Theatre Museum, London.
Andrew has been an artist-in-residence in the Royal National Theatre (London), Munich, Sweden and Hong Kong. He has also travelled to the Jim Corbett National Park, India; Taman Negara, equatorial rainforest, Malaysia and has camped in the game parks of Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Andrew is a third generation beekeeper and runs several hives. His bee paintings are in part inspired by the Pier and Ocean series of Piet Mondrian and Mark Rothko’s colour field paintings (see the rendering of the bees’ pile and markings).
Andrew says:
‘Painting and printmaking is a humane way of making an insect collection. Their sheer graphic beauty makes them perfect for piaintings.’
