Freedom of Expression

Axel Andre explains how he developed his love of art, encouraging it in his daughter and tapping into the creativity of his youth

West Indian artist Axel Andre started painting when he was around 14 years old, after years of his parents taking him to galleries and museums and developing his love for it. “When I was in the Caribbean and I wanted to paint but didn’t have paper, I found a box of books that belonged to my dad. He’d read them and he wasn’t using them. I started flipping through them, then I read them, and then I decided to make my own canvases with the pages. The books used to be key elements of my painting and art. They guided my feelings and meditation before I started work on the painting,” said Andre.

He started using guided meditations on a podcast and he recently went to a retreat in Thailand where he learned to meditate on his own. Aside from his home in the Caribbean, the 35-year-old has lived in Paris, New York, Australia, and Singapore and has been creating art professionally since 2017.

“My art is contemporary, and it comes from my unconscious and that is why I don’t do commissions. I let people take my art as it comes so if you like it, take it; if you don’t, it’s fine. I have a day job, so what I make with my art is a bonus.”

For Andre, his art is regenerative. Despite being a dad and a husband, he still considers himself to be quite carefree and childish, and colour is an important part of his work, and the mix of colours and what she is feeling. I grew up unable to express my feelings – if I cried I was told I had no reason to cry. I was always saying yes, and I thought I needed to see a psychologist and my parents told me I didn’t. It was ironic because my dad is a psychologist. I will give my daughter more freedom of expression, and also put less pressure on her regarding her education,” he said.

He added that he thinks that is a factor as to why he enjoys painting skateboards now. “A skateboard is a toy; a skateboard is freedom, and the colours I use on my skateboards come from my daughter. She has a huge page of paper at home where she can scribble and express herself and when the pages are full, we change them. I’ve used the shapes and colours from her scribbles to inspire the artwork on the skateboards,” said Andre.

For the remainder of 2023, Andre would like to get out and meet more people, create more videos, and content and put a lot more art out into the world.

Get in touch: @axelart

This article appeared in Issue 002 – the Men’s Edition