AndyThurber

A Key West Folk Artist.

Andy grew up in the earlier Key West, before the chain restaurants, and when summers were sleepy. He left to crew on a shrimp boat, came back for the Mariel evacuation and sailed to Cuba.

After several tense weeks and past black muzzles of Cuban gunboats, Andy brought more than a hundred Cubans to freedom, and never left again.

Some of Andy’s favorite subjects are the local characters you will not see unless you walk the side streets and local hangouts of Key West. Native memories, experiences and passions fuel his high-energy watercolors. Bold brushwork, tropical colors and innovative composition are some of his trademarks. His palette vibrates with the sun bleached light of Key West and its darkness.

Portrait-like visions of local personalities and locations come from today’s Key West and an older, more unrefined time. His forceful blending of subject, color and style, make him one of Key West’s most promising young art historians.