In Oakland, CA Good Mother Gallery is showing Best Friends, the first collaborative project by husband-wife duo Alán González and Ellie Andrews. Both artists work in industries where creating art can become more competitive than expressive, in Best Friends, the pair returns to their artistic roots by drawing for fun. Inspired by their shared enthusiasm for pop imagery from old toys, signs, decals, and packaging, they’ve created their own characters in ceramics, woodcuts and canvas paintings.
Ellie Andrews first exhibited at Good Mother Gallery as part of their second group show in March 2015, while that same weekend, Gonzalez exhibited across the Bay at San Francisco’s 111 Minna. They met a few days later, starting a relationship that would eventually lead to their marriage in 2019.
Alán González grew up in Southern California, learning ceramics from his dad at a young age. He revisits this approach to hand-built sculpture, giving life to his character designs in a three-dimensional form. Throughout the last 10 years, he’s resided in San Francisco where he continues to paint and design graphics at Thrasher Magazine. His work references characters and hand styles from his childhood in the 1990s, which are brought back to life through his dynamic and vibrant visual language.
Ellie Andrews graduated from Camberwell College of Arts living and working as a graphic artist in South London for the next 10 years. She relocated permanently to San Francisco last year. Andrews’ paintings show paneled cartoon scenes, mixed with looser abstract patterns and motives. She creates layouts by collaging drawings and using compositions reminiscent of DIY zine aesthetics.
