Jonny Andvik's personal and artistic horizons have unfolded expansively since
his childhood living in a farmers district in Telemark. That period of
geographical isolation was in retrospect a blessing for the painter he recalls.
"Because I grew up in a close connection to the cultural heritage of Telemark,
I wasn't taught the cliches. My experience of the local people, there minds
and there way of living shows in my paintings."
 
Born in 1966, he was unusually fortunate to be encouraged by his grandfather
Alf Andvik in the pursuits of painting, himself a painter, donated his twelve-
year-old grandson his first brush and paint.
 
Andvik's interest in drawing and painting continued as a teenager and he was
further encouraged as a student both in Norway and at the Exeter college of
Art in England. A frequent visitor to museums, he is inspired by painters such
as Titian, Jan Vermeer, Rembrandt, John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Andrew
Wyeth, Odd Nerdrum and several other masters.
 
Each painting is a struggle and a journey for Andvik, the destination a
prolonged feast of discovery for the viewer. While his mastery of the medium is
apparent, the desire of the painter is that technique shall never override the
painting's essential concept.
 
Known for his depictions of rural Telemark, Andvik strives to capture the dignity
and beauty of the nature and of its moods. But he also feels a strong need to
preserve the traditional ways of historypainting. "I do not believe in painting
something just for the sake of creating," Andvik says, "I invest very much time
in each picture, so I want them to tell something, have a message. My
intentions is that the idea or the thought I had makes a story that finaly will
work as a spiritual awakening for the viewer."
 
"I see nature as being so much more powerful than we realize." He believe in
the true value of preserving the natural heritages as well as the human
heritages, "The fact of knowing where you come from is important to the
human spirit."

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