Andres Michelena
Andres Michelena’s Biography
Heir of a long line of artists and coming from an art oriented family related to Arturo Michelena, the most famous Venezuelan painter of the 19th century, Andres Michelena starts showing his skills as an artist in his early ages. Under the guidance of Juan Vicente Fabbiani and Beatriz Plaza he took his firsts steps into the world of creativity at 7.
Since that moment Mr. Michelena has never loose the trails of art doing.
He spent 4 years studying Architecture at the most important Venezuelan university, UCV, (Universidad Central de Venezuela).
Attending the 8th semester in 1984, he met one of the most relevant Venezuela’s artist, Pedro Leon Zapata. Since that moment he never returns to architecture.
Few months later he starts studying art at the Federico Brandt Art Institute in Caracas.
Luis Pannier, Jacobo Borges, Juan Pedro Possani, Graciela Pantin, Manuel Espinoza were only some of the teachers that influence Mr. Michelena’s development for four years.
Parallel to his improving art skills, Mr. Michelena has always been involved into religious, spiritual, and esoteric matters. Since “Opus Nigrum”, his first remarkable solo show in 1989, he has demonstrated the influence of his spiritual path in his professional works.
In a melee of Catholicism, Santeria, Astrology, Alchemy, and more recently as a Zen Buddhist practitioner, his art has always shown how deep can he goes in the way to find his way.