Meet Andrew Lee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Lee.

Andrew, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am currently a self-employed professional artist with different online businesses, working on opening my own network of charter high schools to update and revolutionize our current education system.

I do this because I feel so blessed and grateful to have been born into my loving and supportive family. With their support, I graduated with a 4.0 in aerospace engineering. I tried it out and it just did not live up to my expectations. I decided that while I was young, I’d follow my passions as an artist and educator. I then taught high school math through Teach for America, graduated with a master’s degree in secondary education two years later, and further my entrepreneurial and artistic career during that time.

After my first two years of teaching and having great success transforming my students’ beliefs and confidence in math, I wanted to have a larger impact on students to actually help them achieve their dreams in life. I decided then to work on opening my own school and I am now fully self-employed with various businesses in art, social media, art business education, and art supplies.

I now work to help other aspiring artists become thriving professional artists through my Millennial Artist course while furthering my personal career in art and education.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Yes and no. When people think of success, they think of a straight line from A to B. Success is more like a curvy road that often takes you backwards, through some peaks and valleys, while you’re in the dark. As I’ve pursued my vision of success, it’s more or less been driving at night with my lights on. I can see where I’m going next and know the ultimate destination, but the whole path has not been and still is not clear.

It’s been a smooth road, but a lot of the times, I’m not sure where the road is taking me. During the journey, weather has caused some solid damage, I’ve broken my right (painting hand), I’ve had numerous deals fall through, I’ve worked intense hours, I’ve had a hole poked through one of my most popular paintings, I’ve gained and lost team members, and currently Amazon has lost and is looking for 520 of my new art supply products. There will always be failures and struggles, but they’re all learning experiences that will ultimately lead to the big win.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am a Chinese American artist and painter. Using acrylics and oils, I seek to inspire others to pursue their wildest dreams through various Chinese themes and modernizing them.

My Four Monks series, for example, depicts four monks traversing these majestic, but seemingly insurmountable obstacles. These monks have a vision for where they want to go and are armed with only their willpower, determination, and support of each other to overcome these towering mountains. To me, it’s a metaphor for life. As humans, we can achieve anything with only our willpower, determination, and support of each other. Each painting is named after a quality that I’ve found essential to success.

I am most proud to be one of the few Chinese American artists in Arizona and that I am able to also help other aspiring artists to achieve their dreams.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think that with the power of the internet, the art industry will be much easier for new artists to make a name for themselves and market their work. It will help to remove the need for galleries and being in the industry for years and years. Overall, with technology, it will be easier for more artists to do this professionally.

Pricing:

• Paper Prints $20-$30
• Original Paintings $800 – $4288
• Commissions $800+ (depending on size and subject)

Contact Info:

• Website: www.andrewleeartwork.com
• Email: andrew.lee.artwork@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewleeartwork/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.lee.artwork/

Image Credit:
Andrew Lee

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