Andrew Pierce Scott weaves fabric feasts for the eyes. Working with scraps of found material, his alternative still lifes offer an enticing view of the group dining experience. Patterned tablecloths are punctuated by pearlescent champagne in fine glasses. Plates are loaded with fish, charcuterie, oysters, and glistening slices of lemon. His applique works do not feature human diners, but they evoke the feeling of community in their suggestion of a pleasurable meal about to be shared.
For TOAST shops, the US-born, London-based artist has created three new fabric applique pieces and a series of 24 paper collages. The works have been inspired by the TOAST Spring Summer 2025 season concept, A Shared Table, incorporating items from the collection. “It felt like the theme aligned pretty neatly with what I’ve been developing in the fabric works in the last couple of years,” the artist tells me, when we speak ahead of the pieces going on display. “Food and getting together for a meal is a pretty timeless way of connecting with family and friends that you love. It’s also a good way of meeting new people. Sharing food and sustenance is such a core experience.”
In his applique works, Andrew is interested in the moment before the food is consumed and the table is “trashed”. He wants to capture a feeling of excitement and anticipation. His table scenes have an awkward eyeline, as though we are viewing them from an angle while standing in the room rather than observing a neatly arranged composition more familiar with art historical still life painting. Andrew is interested in celebrating and elevating the mundane, homing in on details distorted through a water jug, or the shadows that form different patches of colour on the tablecloth.
“I like playing with perspective,” he says. “The main object, whether that’s a fish or some oysters, is often shown in aerial view and as your eye moves up through the piece it becomes more in profile. There is something a bit weird, like an imagined scene, that you wouldn’t necessarily get if you took a photo of a table.” He is interested in these pieces being visually read as they might appear in the mind’s eye, or through the viewpoints of multiple guests, rather than a single perspective. He captures a feeling that exists beyond the practical composition in the room. “There’s something really grounding and concrete about the shared table. But also the conversation, or lighting in the room, or how you felt that day, is less representational pictorially.”
Viewing his work, I am reminded of a recent exhibition of Alice Neel still lifes at Xavier Hufkens in Brussels. There is a casual nature to her scenes also felt in his pieces, which seems like a natural response to the artist’s instinct in the moment rather than a rigid, symbolic tableaux. Andrew has also been inspired by the flattening and unsettling nature of René Magritte’s ‘The Portrait’. In the surreal 1935 painting, a simple plate, glass, knife and fork, and bottle of wine appear to depict an everyday scene, except in the centre of a slice of ham that sits on the plate, a single eyeball stares at the viewer. Andrew is also drawn to the more traditional works of Floris Van Dijck, in which wooden tables heave abundantly with cheese and fruit, and to the simplicity of Francisco de Zubarán, who painted highly realistic yet ordinary items against inky black backgrounds, contrasting their quotidian nature with an almost holy dramatic lighting. “Zubarán might show one lemon in a bowl. It’s not the whole Dutch table with all the lobsters and the silks,” says Andrew. “The light feels immaculate, but it’s focused on something that can be so easily missed.”
Andrew also embraces the contemporary visual culture that creates a ritual around food. While it is ultimately experienced by the sense of taste, food is enjoyed by the eyes first. The artist is drawn to images shared by chefs on social media, focusing on small details such as reflections through glass or the specific tone of a stripe on a plate. His works capture how it feels to eat a shared meal in the home, with an eclectic but beautiful sense of design, flowers casually cut and placed in decorative vases rather than too neatly arranged. He wants to conjure the multi-sensory joy of eating, similar to the experience of sharing soft shell crab in the summer in the States, “when you roll out the paper on the table and the crabs are so visually stimulating with the yellow lemons. And the anticipation that it’s going to be a party of smashing these shells and it’s going to be chaos.”
Andrew came to his current practice quite organically. One summer in college around 20 years of age, he was bedridden with mono and Lyme disease, with little energy. His artist sister lent some of her oil paints. At the time he was interested in the “virtuosity and hyperrealism” of Dutch still lifes. After this he embraced more three-dimensional means of making, trying out metal work – which still forms a part of his studio practice – and having his flatmate teach him to sew and make costumes.
While subsequently studying product design at the RCA just before the pandemic, many of his friends training in fashion left a “mountain of fabrics and textiles” at the end of each term which he began to collect. He initially noticed that a scrap of material looked like scales, so he cut it out into a fish shape and his subject grew from there. “It was during Covid and before restaurants were open again, so it was this daydreamy practice of imagining this thing like the shared table. I was subconsciously creating something that we couldn’t have then.”
He enjoys working with the limitations of found fabrics and metals. “I’m definitely a hoarder of materials,” he laughs. “I think it’s good to be conscious of what you’re consuming, but I’m also a bit material agnostic. With scrap fabric and samples, I like working with things that aren’t precious. I feel a bit freer to make mistakes.” He has created his TOAST pieces entirely with fabrics from the collection. “It’s been really nice working with TOAST. I love that feeling of getting a random grab bag with different colours, textures and weights and then problem solving around what’s available. You make one decision and everything flows from that. I like not going in with the sketches and plans but leaving it open-ended.”
While he is becoming ever more familiar with this way of working, he aims to retain this aspect of intuition and problem solving. His works show the imperfections of the human hand, and some clash different colours, patterns and textures in a way that adds a visual richness. “It feels a bit warmer and more welcoming and less sleek. It’s real and human,” he says. “I like that I’m not a trained seamstress or pattern cutter. I have to be conscious sometimes of not falling into the trap of being too proficient and considered. I’m ok failing a bit more and experimenting.”
Visit our shops to view Andrew’s artwork from Thursday 29 January to Wednesday 25 March.
Words by Emily Steer.
Photography by James Bannister.
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