Artist Spotlight: Andee Collard

Artist Spotlight: Andee Collard

Andee Collard is a UK-based artist who creates traditional paintings using experimental machine painting techniques. His works celebrate the interplay between precision and glitchy physicality, reflecting his fascination with the connections between technology and modern art. By questioning Walter Benjamin's concept of the artwork's "aura" and exploring the roles of the artist and the machine, Collard's pieces invite contemplation on the evolving nature of art in the technological age.

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Q & A:

What is Machine Painting?
Machine Painting is the art of creating works using machines guided by my specific instructions. I often quip that my paintings are "hand-painted by machine." It is crucial for me to design the machine's instructions; while the machine executes the painting, I assist it throughout the process. By engaging in this collaborative endeavor, I explore the interplay between human creativity and mechanical execution. This approach challenges traditional concepts of authorship and craftsmanship, positioning the machine as both a tool and a creative partner. Through machine painting, I aim to blur the boundaries between artist and apparatus, prompting viewers to rethink notions of originality and the evolving role of technology in art.

What inspired you to use machines for painting instead of traditional methods?
I want to do everything all the time at once and lack the focus to achieve this. I had been thinking about using a machine for about 20 years. I finally made one and then got hooked on the possibilities. I want to make what I want when I want. Because of their relentlessness, I use self-built CNC-controlled machines to produce my work. To quote Terminator (1984), "It can't be reasoned with, it can't be bargained with...it doesn't feel pity of remorse or fear...and it absolutely will not stop". My machine's determination to press on and work is helpful to me—I do not want to be bogged down by my habits and impatience.

Do you build the machines yourself or collaborate with others? Do you use AI like ChatGPT for coding?
Building the machines is an iterative process. I've probably built nearly 20 versions of them by now. They are Frankenstein's monsters, part of other people's open-source projects and my own designs. There is a vibrant community around pen plotters and drawing machines, and I have benefited from their knowledge. Despite my interest in technology, I have not been formally trained in electronics or programming. I generally try to find existing projects that I can modify to fit my needs. The current wave of AI technologies are fascinating. I use ChatGPT extensively to develop new software specific to my ideas. I am dyslexic and find programming extremely challenging, so ChatGPT opens new horizons for me.

Can you share a specific challenge you faced with your machines and how you resolved it?
The challenges of working in this way are manifold. Stuff breaks in new ways all the time. Everyone who has ever built a drawing machine has designed a different pen lift mechanism—it's like a Cambrian explosion of approaches and ideas. I want my machines to be painting as I paint. Therefore, they must work vertically, which means fighting against gravity. I am interested in using the machines to make work, but there is frequent tension, and I also feel the need to improve the machine.

How do you choose which flowers to paint?
I am interested in painting flowers for many reasons; they are beautiful, a cliche, a commodity, cultivated to the point of genetic modification. I buy flowers from my local supermarket mainly for the superficial appeal. I paint specific flowers like tulips and daffodils when they are in season. My approach to painting has developed in line with producing the flowers series. The way I approach photographing them is akin to making drawings, and I have developed software that quantifies and dithers based on a custom palette based on my real-world oil colors. Each flower composition is an opportunity to develop my process.

How necessary is experimentation in your work? Have any machine malfunctions turned into "happy accidents"?
Experimentation is crucial to my work. I have highly diverse interests and want my work to engage with all of them. Malfunctions happen all the time but rarely make it into the final work. I love the challenge of translating an idea into something the machine understands and executes. Although the machine is not intelligent, it is my collaborator, and if I ever bump into it accidentally, I will apologize.

How do you balance the precision of machines with the fluid nature of painting flowers?
In developing the machine painting process, I have tried many different approaches. I want people to be simultaneously aware of the means of production and the final piece as a legitimate work of art. Sometimes, the machine paints stuff that looks handmade, and other times, it makes undeniably mechanical things. These paintings are love letters to the analog world and physical materials and digital artifacts like banding, dithering, and compression. Flowers are an exciting subject matter in that humans cultivate them, but they also symbolize the natural world. Making the machine manipulate the paint how I want it to is challenging. I need the paint to be true to its impasto nature while representing the figurative subject of the composition.

How will utilizing this technology influence the art-making practice?
I believe that there can be no modern art without technology. Photography and cheap industrially made paint produced Impressionism. There is a lot of writing about AI taking over the world and robbing people of their creativity. I see technology as a tool to make other tools, and art is a product of the time it was created.

Images by Charles White at JWPictures.com, courtesy of the artist and Lowell Ryan Projects.