Andrea Ondish
Artist Statements for Industrial and Atmospheric Landscape Series
Industrial Series
With my Industrial series, I sculpt, paint, and make prints. My art development is both planned and intuitive. It is influenced by Modern Art imagery specifically Dada, Cubism and Abstract Expressionism using non-representational imagery. The imagery is derived from discarded objects with interesting geometric forms and textures, that I find on the road, parking lots, thrift stores, and other locations. Additionally with this series, I am intrigued by weathered, rusticated or damaged surfaces, cracked pavement, layering of paint, random mark making, desaturated color and varied textures.
In 2017, I learned the process of making Gypsum cement relief casts. I started with a low-fire wet, soft clay base and impressed industrial objects into it. Then I made a two-inch wall around the image, mixed gypsum cement with water and poured it into the clay mold, let it set/harden, and removed the gypsum cement cast from the clay mold the following day. This revealed a very industrial looking textured surface and composition. I then applied gesso to the surface and polychromed it with acrylic, oil paint and cold wax medium. The final layer of cold wax medium is mixed with grey oil paint and rubbed into the surface to emphasize the textures. The emphasized textured surface is a metaphor for life echoing the passing of time, like when random or uneven surfaces or abrasions catch the slow accumulation of dirt and grime that settle deep into crevices.
At the same time, I had accumulated and made some gypsum cement and spackle shard fragments with some of the geometric texture forms found in my casts. I used stretched canvas that had a hardened acrylic collage surface as my substrate. I then used spackle and spread it on the surface of the canvas and scattered the shard pieces randomly over it, embedding them on the wet spackle surface. I manipulated some of the shards by cracking them into the soft spackle as well. I wanted it to look natural, intuitive and by chance, not forced or planned. Interestingly, when the spackle dried it cracked, adding more interesting compositional elements to the surface. When completely dry, I then applied acrylic emulsion to the entire surface to fix it and harden it. Then I paint the surface with acrylic, oil paint and cold wax medium.
The success I had creating the industrial or by-chance sculpture and painting reliefs then carried over to screenprinting. I was able to create random, chance imagery including rubbings of my industrial geometric textured objects to create screenprinted monotypes. The monotypes mirrored my cast gypsum cement imagery.
Inspired by rust marks on concrete and other surfaces, I started to use rust to create imagery on paper about 2023. Some of my found industrial objects yielded interesting steel rust marks on paper. Using a water spray bottle and dropper, I create both Industrial and Atmospheric Landscape compositions, two art series, simultaneously.
With my Industrial series, I show no references to humans, animals or other recognizable subjects. The non-representational imagery of planned or intuitive geometric forms allows the viewer to enjoy the imagery for its formal qualities, such as line, color, texture, balance, etc., rather than trying to recognize subjects to identify with.
The gypsum cement and painting reliefs that use cold wax medium are buffed when finished and dry.
Similar to my Landscape series, the titles of the artworks (except for a few early gypsum cement reliefs) are fabricated and irrelevant to the imagery. I’m inspired by the many medicines and drugs today that have fabricated names of combinations of letters, designed to be memorable, marketable, and unique to prevent medication errors.
Atmospheric Landscape Series
When I began my Atmospheric Landscape series a few years ago, I wanted to explore the horizon line as a compositional element. My intent was to use a horizontal compositional element to make viewers feel, in an emotional way, a sense of stability and calmness.
The use of color and texture are more prominent in my earlier works (2017-2024) with this series. The media include watercolor, color pencil, crayon, oil pastels, oil paint and cold wax medium. With these works, the horizontal element manifests as drips in some works or hazy color fields with an enhanced textural surface.
My more recent works (2025-26) display some drip elements but morph to a more minimal softer-focus or haziness. They may have a limited color palette to a more desaturated look with textures. These works use a non-traditional medium such as steel rust in addition to oil paint and cold wax medium. I make my own steel rust using scrap steel with salt and water as a corrosive, then apply it with water to the paper surface, shift it around while suspended in water, dry it, fix it with acrylic medium, and then finish it with oil paints and cold wax medium.
For both earlier and later paintings, the textured surface is created with cold wax medium and after it dries, grey oil paint is rubbed into it to emphasize the textures. As with my Industrial series, the emphasized textured surface becomes a metaphor for life echoing the passing of time, like when random or uneven surfaces or abrasions catch the slow accumulation of dirt and grime that settle deep into crevices. The process of creating the texture is influenced by my printmaking background as it relates to inking, wiping and printing intaglio and collagraph plates.
The paintings are developed over a long period of time to allow the oil paint and cold wax medium to dry in between applications. When finished and dry, the surface of the painting is buffed to a shine.
All works in the Atmospheric Landscape series are two-dimensional and on paper. I work, using most often, a long vertical rectangular format. I believe they engage the viewer in an intimate way.
Similar to my Industrial series, the titles of the artworks are fabricated and irrelevant to the imagery. I’m inspired by the many medicines and drugs today that have fabricated names of combinations of letters, designed to be memorable, marketable, and unique to prevent medication errors.
As mentioned, the series is abstracted atmospheric landscapes with either a high or low horizontal compositions. In art, a horizontal element within a composition grounds the work and viewers feel a sense of being centered, emotionally stable, and calm. This is my intent for the viewer.