French artists and friends

By now you know that some of the Barefoot Blogger’s favorite people in France are artists.

Let me tell you about one that I’ve just met — Andy Newman.

It’s really an interesting story of how Andy and I got to know each other. Over the internet. You see, Andy has been visiting my blog at the suggestion of another artist I met in Uzes, Jean Marie Memin.  (Here’s a link to the story about Memin.) After I published the story about Roussillon, Andy sent me an email saying: “Your Roussillon town photo brings to mind any number of the paintings that will be included in my exhibition next month.”

An image was attached to the email that looked like it could have been drawn from one of my photos. 

Ochre-Tinted houses in Roussillon

Andy Newman painting

When I emailed Andy back, he sent even more examples of his work.

Andy Newman painting

Andy Newman paintings

Now I’m hooked. Andy’s work is so representative of the red hills, valleys and ochre-colored houses of the Luberon that it’s almost like being there. 

Who is Andy Newman?

Andy hasn’t always been an artist. He was a Washington, DC lawyer. It wasn’t until 1994 that he gave up his law career and started painting full time.

I love people with “new beginnings.”

Andy grew up in France, England and Italy. His father was a Foreign Service officer. He attended French schools as a child, completing high school and university in England. He returned to the United States to attend law school, then practiced law for fifteen years in Washington. Andy realized in the late 80’s that he had a passion for art and that it was becoming more than a hobby. He had studied Edward Hopper, Derain, Vlaminck, Lucian Freud and Mark Rothko. He was developing a voice of his own. So when he left the law firm in the 90’s, he was already entrenched in his new career. 

The subject matter is no accident.

Andy returned to visit France in the summer of 1974 — to the region around Bagnols-sur-Cèze. In 2005 he bought a village house in Cavillargues where he and his family spend their summers.

The artist’s work has been exhibited at galleries in Nîmes, Montpellier and Le Grau du Roi. The exhibition at the Centre St Maur in Bagnols is his first to be put on in partnership with a municipality. If you’re nearby,  be certain to put a visit to the show on your “to do” list.

ANDY NEWMAN: EXPOSITION “RENCONTRE”
avec FLORENCE CORBI et PIERRE AMIEL
Centre d’Art Rhodanien Saint-Maur, Bagnols-sur-Cèze
du 13 au 26 avril, 2015

For more information on Andy Newman and his art, click here