Andrei Autumn

Andrei Hauk’s Bio

Andrei Hauk was born in Daugavpils, Latvia, Andrei now resides in Latvia (EU), and is a Latvian citizen. In 1973 Andrei’s family moved to Parnu, Estonia, where, at the tender age of 15, Andrei’s interest in ‘rock’ music blossomed. Andrei’s elder brother first introduced him to ‘western’ rock & roll, to which Andrei felt immediately attracted, despite (or perhaps, because of) the Soviet State’s propaganda, portraying such music as “vulgar, empty and wild”. In 1975 Andrei wrote his first song in English, without the help of an instrument. Later that year, he graduated from high school in Narva, Estonia, and began to perform in his first rock band, Embryo. In 1976 his family returned to Latvia and settled in Liepaja, where Andrei really made his name known as a rock-singer and songwriter. Andrei briefly joined Liepaja’s well-known rock bands “Livi” and “Corpus”. During that period, he collaborated with Erik Kigelis and Ainar Virga on some writing projects. Andrei’s career as a vocalist was forced into hiatus, by his mandatory, three-year, conscription into the Soviet Navy, at the age of 17. The Navy prohibited singing in ‘foreign’ languages, including Estonian, and Latvian (it authorized the use of only one language; Russian). Despite the restrictions on his freedom of expression, music was still important to Andrei and he managed to procure a position in the ship’s band, probably because of his apparent vocal abilities. When his tour of duty with the Navy ended, Andrei returned to Latvia, and re-entered Liepaja’s music scene. He participated in a few City Band Contests as a front man, performing with a various line-up of musicians - sometimes performing his own material (by lying about the authorship to the contest’s committee). His contest performances were well received, and, thereafter, he began supporting himself as a singer-songwriter, playing in city dance clubs. In 1983 Andrei landed a position as a cook on a commercial fishing vessel, which he saw as a vehicle to freedom. He defected from the U.S.S.R, in 1984, while on the shore leave in Canary Islands, Spain (his first ‘Western’ port of call). In Spain, Andrei played some gigs with a local band, “Crisis”. A few months later he found himself living in Brooklyn, New York. Andrei participated in numerous original bands, and performed in nightclubs and restaurants. Due to creative differences with band members, and the gruelling lifestyle of a club singer, Andrei decided to retire from his performance career, a couple of years later. He went through a few job changes before eventually embarking upon a successful career as a computer programmer. Though he was no longer working as a performer, he never stopped writing music. Andrei has ‘come back to music’ – his great passion - and is now applying his energies toward obtaining a publishing contract and self-releasing his material. Although most of Andrei’s body of work was written for the hard and pop-rock genre, he touched upon other styles as well, such as dance and country music. Andrei writes, primarily, in English, but he has also written a few songs in Russian, Latvian, Estonian and Spanish. And then he started to paint to decorate his apartment...

I am a self-taught multimedia artist who is trying to express himself through the flow of creativity available in a moment, inviting demons and angels equally into the mix.
My main objective is to seek beauty in everyone and everything even in darkness, attempting to create esthetically and visually as well as emotionally responsive pieces that evoke ideas, thoughts or feelings.
My abstract paintings are mostly a free improvisation in expression of a whole array of emotions or/and ideas and fascination with texture and color.
Usually I work on several pieces at the session and sometimes re-paint the same pieces more than once. Often there are more than 10-15 canvases still in works. Mostly I use acrylics on canvas (and sometimes paper, cardboard, glass and ceramics) on stretch-frame even though my first experimentation started on canvasett (paper canvas). As a common practice, I mix medium: acrylics, acrylic latex, pastels, pencils, ink, glue and others and combine various materials such as paper, photographs, newspaper, pastes, sand, dried blood, pebbles, rice etc. Of course I am open to any new technique and medium as I go through my development as an artist.

Andrei Autumn