1981 – M.F.A. University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma

“I tend to economize,” explains Joe Andoe, “I want to reduce images to their blueprint.”

Andoe strives for an utter distillation of image, ground, and color in his work. Not surprisingly, then, his inventory of subjects remains basic: horns, wreaths, candles, flowers, cornstalks, trees, cattle, buffalo, lambs, sheep, and, lately, horses.

Mentally prepared, but without a preparatory design, he begins with a blank canvas. He applies a layer of gesso to the canvas. Once the gesso has dried, he uses a palette knife to apply a thin layer of oil paint, building up the layers in certain places, and leaving other places with only a thin wash of color.

Andoe is bent on creating pared-down, timesless, and generic images; an attitude that extends to his use of a monochromatic, earth-colored ground. “By using earth colors, I further distill my images to next to nothing.”