"Pricklies and Crawlies" was conceived as a large mural, set to cover the customer-facing walls of the Burger Stand. The mural currently occupies the corner of the building, where it strives to comment on and occupy the architecture of the space. In the mural, New Mexican bugs make their way through an imaginary landscape of psychedelic prickly pears, bones and faceted rocks. A striking pattern of orange diamonds contrasts with olive green negative spaces, and giant pink grasses suggest that the viewer has shrunk down to the size of one of the denizens of this interior desert. While these symbols of mid-century Westerns hint at a spooky side to this world, they are so saturated and cartoon-like as to transmute their sources into an invitation to joyful exploration.
Andrew Fearnside is a New Mexico painter guided by ongoing interests in psychology, social justice, pop culture and spiritual life. After completing a BFA in painting and drawing at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in his native Boston, he found work as a designer, dancer, teacher and psychotherapist. A first phase of his mural for the Burger Stand Albuquerque was completed in Fall 2019. He began work on "Birds of 'Burque," a mural for the artist studio, Little Bird de Papel in late Winter 2020. He has been juried into group shows in Oregon, Michigan, Colorado and Texas, and has won awards for his work. He has had solo shows at Harwood Art Center, Zendo, and the Erna Ferguson Library in Albuquerque, and duos at the Open Space Visitor Center and Page Coleman Gallery. His collaborative book with artist (and sister) Lee Fearnside, “O! Relentless Death! Celebrity, Loss and Mourning,” won an Gold IPPY Award in 2019, and was a finalist in the 2019 American Book Fest.