Bio Bio Bio
Andrew Duff is an artist and designer living in Toronto, Canada. A graduate of both OCAD and NSCAD, Andrew currently draws robots on just about everything. His RoMash pieces are a mish-mash of old paper collage and fancy robot drawings. Andrew’s robot explorations include drawings, paintings, collages and hand-painted terra cotta pots. They are all created with humour and a unique take on modern living, technology, commerce and self-identity. A crafty lowbrow meets sci-fi graffiti kind of thing.
Andrew is also a Creative Consultant at Collective Gasp — helping nice people make wow since 1997.
Artist Statement
Robots arrived in Andrew's work early in 2004. At first they were angry little machines bound on destruction. A stocky robot body with a giant smashing fist. These early robot pictures were all about Andrew feeling, well, like a robot: chained to his computer desk, working madly on the same thing over and over. Pretty grumpy stuff.
But then these same robots, once so angry, became more flexible. Introspective. New robot pictures were made. A new character appeared - a combination of R2-D2 and a canister vacuum. Playful but hard working. They remain surrogates — self portraits of the artist as machine. But a machine coming to terms with technology, his place (literally) in it and the search for more...
The RocketBot … searching for an escape
The Rocketships … searching for a future
The Inline Robots … aching for community
The ZenBot … finding authenticity
These heady topics are all done in a rough, cartoonish style. So there are no grand pronouncements.
No perfect solutions here. Just playful ideas.
C.V.
Solo Exhibitions
2012 Gerrard Art Space (GAS), Toronto Eye To The Sky
2010 North York Central Library, Toronto RoMashx3
Group Exhibitions
2012 Queen West Art Crawl Outdoor Art Show, Toronto
2012 SpeakEasy's Spring Art Fair, Toronto
2011 Mercer Union, Toronto PIN UP
2011 Hangman Art Gallery, Toronto The Little Art Show
2011 Queen West Art Crawl Outdoor Art Show, Toronto
2011 AWOL Gallery, Toronto Square Foot Show
2011 Artscape Wychwood Barns, Toronto Barns Art Market
2011 SpeakEasy's Fine Art Show, Toronto
2011 Distillery Historic District, Toronto Distillery Art Market
2010 Mercer Union, Toronto All Inclusive
2010 Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto Whodunit?
2010 Post No Bills: Celebrating the Film Poster, Toronto
2009 Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto Whodunit?
2009 Comrades in Craft, Toronto Craft Show & Sale (co-organizer & artist)
2009 Post No Bills: Celebrating the Rock Poster, Toronto
2008 Comrades in Craft, Toronto Craft Show & Sale (co-organizer & artist)
2001 Workplace, Toronto overtime@workplace
2001 Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto Miniature Show: An Instant Coffee Project,
Part of Instant Coffee Urban Disco Trailer + Everyone, Present Tense Contemporary Project Series No. 17
2000 Art Metropole, Toronto Gifts By Artists
1999 Free Parking Collective, Toronto Itch Galore
1999 Transform Artspace, Toronto ClearCut
1994 SOD Collective, Toronto Work (co-organizer & artist)
1994 SOD Collective, Toronto Bed (co-organizer & artist)
1993 AKA Artist's Centre, Saskatoon Bookworks
Awards
1997 Canada Council for the Arts, Grant for First Production in Media Arts
Education
1995 Digital Media Studios, Toronto - Certificate in Digital Graphic Design and Multimedia
1993 Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax - B.F.A. Degree, minor in Art History
1992 Ontario College of Art, Toronto - A.O.C.A. 4-year Diploma, Experimental Arts Department