I met Andrew Hurt at an art show about six years ago. Shortly after, we became studio mates and fast friends. We’re now on our fourth studio together, which probably says more about his patience than anything else.
What stands out about Andy’s work is how much he trusts his first instinct. The initial marks stay. They’re not fussed with or overworked. Because of that, the paintings feel immediate and self-assured — like they understand something about what it actually feels like to be a painter, both physically and emotionally. There’s an honesty to them that’s hard to fake.
A lot of his work circles kitchens, cooks, and the people who keep those spaces running. Andy has a real respect for service workers — not in a performative way, just in the way he pays attention. His recent photo series of cooks is amazing.
Outside of painting, he makes a very good vodka sauce pizza. He’s also a genuinely good actor, which feels unfair but tracks.
Embedded in his paintings, his food, and his sense of humour is a distinctly Canadian tone that doesn’t feel forced. It’s in the name “Wharfie,” but also in his deep love and appreciation he has for artists like Gord Downie and Joni Mitchell, which is most of what we listen to at the studio. Andy’s a Kingston boy, by birth and by heart.
Andy is one of those people who is fully committed to what he does — not just painting, but cooking, collaborating, and showing up for other artists. If he isn’t cooking at a pop-up, he’s attending one. He pays attention, especially to what’s happening in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where he lives and works. There aren’t many people who sustain that level of engagement across multiple forms without it tipping into something forced or self-important. With him, it never does.
Andy is not just my studio mate — he’s a real friend to me.
-Written by George Hawitt, friend
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Which hood are you in?
I work out of a warehouse studio on Powell Street in Vancouver’s downtown east side. Powell Street is home to so many spots that are important not just to my life but to Vancouver’s story as a whole. My studio sits blocks from Sunrise Market and Oppenheimer Park. I feel grateful to make my work out of this studio. It’s such a special space, it’s this old warehouse building that artists took over about 25 years ago. Most of the artists in the space have been there since the beginning, and getting to make work around them and in that space has been an amazing privilege. I share my direct space, however, with Georgina Hawitt, who goes by the artist Instagram name ( life.of.ping ). She’s a painter that I’ve admired the work of for years, and I now get to also call her a good homie of mine. Making work around her makes art feel like such a hangout, which is so special for my craft. Shout out, Powell Street, and shout out George, my craft will forever be grateful to you both.
What do you do?
I’m a cook and a painter. And I really just like doing the same shit, I’m a big creature of habit, I like my little coffee in the morning, a little joint and a walk and getting groceries, same stuff everyone else is doing, I just happen to write it down and make art of it. Very chill.
What are you currently working on?
I’m not really sure, I kinda like to just go about my day until I have an idea for something. I’m bad at planning things. Sometimes, I’ll just feel like painting, and then I do, and when I don’t, I just don’t. The only thing I do plan is just being at the studio, even if I don’t make anything, just being there is the only point. I have started treating painting as a discipline in the way that just doing a little bit of it every day, and taking time to think artfully every day is process to just how I wish to live my life forever, and working on and through that process in any medium I see fit.
Where can we find your work?
You can find my work on Instagram, or if you happen to be in Victoria and looking for one of the best meals in the city, Lumache on Douglas Street has a very special painting of mine hanging in their dining room. I’m the only painting in the space, and it is a huge honour for me; it is a very special place and worth checking out. The food made me call my mom; it was so good. I also work with a lot of cooks and service industry folk, so if you’re in Vancouver and eating and see a menu or a wine bottle that looks like it was designed by a toddler type vibe, that’s probably me also.
