Andre Tourrette

Artist Statement

Andre Tourrette turned on a welding machine at the age of fifteen and never turned it off. Now, thirty years later, having made a living repairing everything from half full dumpsters to nuclear reactors on submarines, his desire to work with metal burns hotter than ever. The scope of the metal sculptures he creates ranges from one end of the spectrum to the other, which is synonymous with his imagination and personality.

The Brooklyn native works with a thought process which is the opposite of most sculptors. The end result is a product of whatever was on hand during the creation of the piece. Andre’s studio is the metal shop he makes his living at, where sculptures are created from leftover materials from 'real life' jobs. The material must be seen for what it is in order for the beauty to be drawn out from it. Everything you see is made from recyclable materials salvaged from the scrap bin. At times this is very obvious, most times it is not.

The majority of Andre's work is abstract. He does his best when there are no rules. When putting together sculptures or useful pieces of art such as furniture, the envelope is pushed to its limit concerning balance and gravity. Most of his works appear that they defying these principals.

Proud to have work collected across the earth, a few recent accomplishments include work being viewed in the Contemporary Art Museum in St Louis, galleries in Chicago, Brooklyn and Philadelphia, as well as a commission for The Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas.