When Andrew Moreno works on a portray, he focuses on what he calls the spirit.
If he listens to it intently, the spirit’s power will inform him which canvas to make use of, which coloration to smear, which form to attract — and the nearer he listens, the better the work come.
The primary portray he ever made by that methodology offered to well-known actress Jodie Foster.
After that, Moreno painted for a 12 months and a half, typically engaged on six artworks directly in his bed room earlier than God informed him he wanted to cease. He gave away all his artwork provides, didn’t contact a canvas for six years, then began once more final 12 months, portray 100 items in simply three months.
“Typically the portray tells me that I would like to search out these discovered objects,” Moreno mentioned. “So I form of put that imaginative and prescient in my head as to what form it must be, how thick and all these particulars, and I simply exit for a stroll, after which the piece involves me. It’s form of a manifestation.”
The Artwork Heart Highland Park will exhibit greater than 60 of Moreno’s summary expressionist work, many from that prolific time interval, from 6-10 p.m. on Thursday, June 26, as a part of the Highland Park born-and-raised artist’s first solo exhibition, Lo Que No Se Ve (What Is Not Seen).
The one-night-only occasion can even function a stay music efficiency from Moreno’s band Psychefelix, a raffle of chosen paintings, and meals and drinks from Sabor a Norte Catering, a Mexican catering firm run by Moreno’s father. Tickets to the exhibit value $45.
Moreno recalled his love of artwork began with the drums, not portray. He beat on pots and pans with sticks till his mom purchased him a package when he was 10. For the following eight years, he would come residence from college and play drums for six hours straight till he couldn’t anymore, he mentioned.
Later, when he was 26, Moreno streaked some charcoal with acrylic paint and oil pastels on a clean canvas that his then-girlfriend had mendacity round. His mom introduced what turned the summary portrait of a three-eyed individual to a household buddy’s home in Glencoe.
Foster was passing by means of the house on a e-book tour and favored the portray a lot she purchased it, Moreno mentioned. The expertise impressed him to color extra and get to know his spirit extra — a power that doesn’t converse in human language however by means of power varieties, he described.
Youth
Like his creativity, Moreno’s sense of spirituality started when he was younger. His household didn’t have some huge cash and moved round Lake County often, so Moreno grew to maintain to himself and prioritize his internal life somewhat than connect to pals which may not be round quickly, he mentioned.
Moreno’s spirituality informs the best way he strikes by means of life. When he walks previous strangers having a dialog on the road, he listens to their phrases for solutions the universe is offering to questions he hasn’t requested but. This attunement isn’t one thing you may clarify to individuals, he mentioned; you both possess it from prior lifetimes you labored on your self otherwise you don’t.
Whereas engaged on a portray someday, Moreno searched on-line for a reference picture and encountered a slide that mentioned “Abandon All Artwork.” Accepting that as an indication from the universe, he left the piece unfinished and didn’t make one other portray for at the very least six years.
The hiatus kicked off with roughly 5 months of meditating, strolling and studying spiritual texts like “The E-book of Genesis” and “The New Testomony” for hours at a time. It felt “therapeutic,” he mentioned, as he fasted for days and spoke little to others, even when that induced some pressure at residence.
“My household would form of take it private. Like, ‘Why don’t you need to discuss to me?’ I used to be like, ‘I do,’ however I simply wished to focus extra on myself,” Moreno recalled.
“We’re two completely different entities, so it’s extra so about pleasing God as a result of he is aware of greater than anybody else round me. So why not hearken to that voice and that power to remodel my life.”
Moreno gave away his drum package and all his artwork provides when he dedicated to that years-long “non secular journey,” so when he began making artwork once more in 2024 — partially attributable to urging from his household — he simply used newspapers and crayons that his sister, a college instructor, had out there.
However Moreno discovered the constraints useful. He offered some work to get artwork provides and started portray once more at a speedy clip. Thursday’s gallery will function a variety of works from this time, in addition to an enormous 8-by-11-foot centerpiece titled “The Golden Rule” from earlier than his break.
Moreno mentioned his intuitive artwork follow has helped him perceive who he’s, how he listens and responds to life. He seems ahead to assembly new individuals throughout his first solo present and, somewhat than explaining what his work symbolize, listening to how others understand the works he’s created.
“I really feel so excited as a result of for me, the enjoyment is to share my crafts with everybody else and to encourage individuals,” Moreno mentioned.
“Mainly, it’s probably not about me, however it’s about sharing my love with everybody else, like actually being current with each single person who is available in contact with me, and saying, ‘Hey, I’m right here for you. I don’t know you, however I’m right here to hear to each single factor you need to say.”
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