Artist Q & A: Andre Petterson

In our latest artist Q & A, Vancouver mixed-media artist Andre Petterson recalls his earliest combining of paint and photography (and which of the two came first in his life), and talks about the significance of the artistic process itself. Halcyon opens on April 20 at Bau-Xi Vancouver and runs through May 4, 2024.

Andre Petterson, Sky Spill 2, mixed media on panel, 48 x 48 inches.


1. A hallmark of your art is your use of mixed media, specifically photography and painting. What first led you to combine these two mediums to make art, and how does their combined use enable you to express your vision? Did the genesis of your use of photography predate digital technology?

I really began to make art at 19. In that first year of art-making I met Otto Rogers and was so taken by him and his work that I frantically started making assemblages out of bits and pieces of debris from the neighbourhood and stuff from the basement. Around the same time I made drawings and paintings, ink washes etc. All of it was quick art. It was all about gesture and making as much as I could as fast as I could. I had this need to explore every thought in my head, I couldn’t stop.

I visited the Mendel Art Gallery on a regular basis which also started the “bug”. I’ve always maintained the philosophy and the tools of art making don’t matter - be they paint, photography, printing techniques, assemblage, sculpture. The process is the real art, and the product is the end result. Mistakes and altered directions while in the process make the work viable. I never cared how long something took to make. My biggest goal is to “say something” with what I make. I never think of it as decoration.

Andre Petterson, From the Shadow, mixed media on panel, 24 x 24 inches.


The combination of my first Mac computer and Photoshop 1 in 1990 allowed me to manipulate photos (which I was taking for years before that) and print them with my small colour printer. I would take those prints to the lab and make multiples and larger versions, which I would cut up and apply to the panels so that I could paint into them. Before that, I was getting prints made at photo labs of the photos I took with my film cameras. I also had a dark room in the 70s for making black & white photographs. I used those images as well as the colour ones from the lab to make collages.


2. Who have been the greatest influences on your art - be they artists, or otherwise?

I grew up in Saskatoon and it was there that I met Otto Rogers. I asked him when I would know if I was any good as an artist. He was encouraging and supportive and told me to make 3000 paintings and to come back afterward and see him. I did. I asked him the same question and he told me to make 3000 more. Needless to say, he was an early influence. Time went by and I became more interested in painting. I started using found objects and applying them to the canvas. Then, for years, sculpture was what propelled me. I began to incorporate photos into my work which resulted in a series of collages, which then became larger photos onto which I would incorporate paint. My dad was an amateur photographer – Because of him I’ve carried a camera with me ever since I was 10 years old. Anselm Kiefer was an artist whose work I discovered in the early 90s. His work inspired me more than any artist - I still believe he’s one of my most treasured influences.

Andre Petterson, Beach Dance, mixed media on panel, 24 x 96 inches.


3. You have lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and have since lived in Vancouver for many years – when did you make your way out to the West Coast, and do you feel that the combined energy and aesthetic of these two places affect your work?

I was a working musician from an early age, and the band I was with moved to Vancouver when I was 20. Saskatoon is a small city - I was young there and mostly interested in developing a music career. When I landed in Vancouver, my visual art began to take over and consume me. The music and art overlapped until I was 30; by then, I had been exhibiting for 7 or 8 years. Ultimately, what propelled me was my internal drive more so than the cities themselves.


4. Your current collection heralds a return to floral subject matter, which you last explored in 2018. What are the qualities of this subject that endure for you and compel you towards it?

I have always changed direction and subject matter in my work every few years. I have a need to explore and experiment, not just with techniques but with the images which dominate my works. I have been dabbling with floral and nature works throughout the decades; If I were to make floral works again, I felt I had to bring something new to the subject that I hadn't yet explored. Incorporating architectural elements added a sense of play and, to some degree, a sense of re-visiting some of the early collages that I made years ago. I get to build things again.

Andre Petterson, Ochre Dream, mixed media on panel, 48 x 36 inches.


5. Can you tell us about your choice of the word Halcyon for the title of this new exhibition?

Halcyon has many meanings. For me it’s a sense of peace or tranquility, and a “happy period in the past”. I think of reflecting on earlier works and feeling a sense of letting go and just exploring that became appealing to me in a time where it’s easy to get caught up in the "noise". I also like the sound of the word – the appeal for me is more than the dictionary definition.

6. To what degree do you typically plan each image you create? Is a degree of spontaneity important to you?

Spontaneity is very important. I like to plan what I’m about to do and then let the mistakes direct me. Throwing paint at rigidity is satisfying.


7. What do you consider to be your primary purpose for making art?

I can hardly remember a time when I didn’t make art. I just can’t imagine not doing it.

The artist in his Vancouver studio with Night Blush, mixed media on panel, 60 x 60 inches.