by Grady Mitchell | Back in the northern Ontario town where artist Andrew Pommier grew up, whenever he wasn’t drawing, he was probably skateboarding. And when it eventually became apparent that a professional skating career wasn’t going to happen, he aspired instead to create board graphics. That dream did come true, and quickly.

Andrew has created board graphics for Toy Machine, RVCA, Girl, and even a signature shoe with Adidas. In addition, he’s penned or painted a breadth of editorial work (he was one of the earliest contributors to Skateboard Canada magazine, appearing in their first issue) as well as exhibiting numerous shows worldwide.

And it’s clear that those many early mornings had a profound effect on his work. His sketchbooks and the walls of his studio are full of lonesome, darkly funny characters in costumes and masks; smoking, drinking and cavorting across the canvas. As a kid, Andrew says, cartoons and comics provided “a way to think about different stories, different ideas.”

Piles of black sketchbooks teeter around Andrew’s Chinatown studio. Each one acts as a collecting bin for ideas, and it’s here that most of his larger works begin. He spends much of his downtime sketching in those books with no particular plan or direction. Pages are haphazardly dotted with characters: bleary-eyed bunny men puffing on cigarettes or brandishing broken bottles, personified hot dogs with cartoon arms. Later he’ll parse through them and select his favourite ideas to develop into finished pieces.

He shies from looking too deeply into his work. Despite repeating motifs like masks and costumes, he strives not to over-conceptualize, preferring to work intuitively rather than stick to a blueprint. “My hand has a better understanding of what I want to do,” he says. Recently, his work has grown more abstract. Often in his newer paintings subjects avoid the viewer; they angle away, random objects or creatures obscure their faces, or they appear only as shadowy silhouettes with staring eyes. Don’t expect Andrew to tell you what it means. Just take a look and enjoy.

To see more of Andrew Pommier’s works, visit his website.

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