Narrative Biography
Andrew Young at The Grand Canyon
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Born in Mt. Kisco, New York, in 1962, Andrew Young studied biology and art history at UC Berkeley, where in 1987 he received a B.A. and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. His keen interest in science furthered his affinity for natural history, philosophy, and art, which eventually led him to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where in 1990 he earned an M.F.A. in painting and drawing. In 2006, he received an invitation from The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oregon State University to join an expedition to Antarctica to research the wildlife and document studies of the earthquakes and ice movement in the region. In 2011, Young curated a group show at The Art Center of Highland Park, Illinois, he titled Indexing the World: invention, abstraction and dissonance. It was an exhibition designed to explore our intricate and elastic relationship to the landscape. Subsequently, Young wrote for and co-edited a book on Illinois fossils discovered through coal mining entitled The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna, released in the fall of 2012. This volume is a collaboration with many scientists and portrays the diversity of one of the world’s richest paleontological sites.
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In 2018/19, the Chicago Academy of Sciences/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum hosted a solo exhibition of Young’s mixed media and sculptural pieces titled All This Land, drawing on the vital nature of Earth’s ecology, its vulnerability, and our responsibilities inherent to it. Shortly following the show, he partnered in editing a companion volume to the fossil animal book of 2012, this time about the plants of Illinois during the Carboniferous Period. A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek was published in the winter of 2020 and not only enhanced his involvement and understanding of the subject, but helped him describe a personal and delicate point of intersection between science and art.
Young’s artwork is represented by several galleries and has been featured in numerous national and international exhibitions, often with accompanying workshops. His projects have taken him to Italy, Germany, Ecuador, Hungary, and Pakistan, to name a few. Since 1989, articles on his paintings have been published in The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, ARTnews, ArtForum, Art in America, Art & Antiques, Art Issues, The New Art Examiner, and various others. The Chicago Public Art Program commissioned several large-scale works for the Budlong Woods Library, which adds to his many museum and corporate collections. His work has recently been acquired by the McNay Art Museum, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the San Antonio Museum of Art, and the Illinois State Museum. The artist lives and works in Brookfield, Illinois.
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Young in his early Impressionist landscape phase - South Salem, NY, 1965.
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