ABOUT THE ARTIST
Andrew Osta lives and works in Oaxaca, Mexico. He has been painting and exhibiting for over 20 years, starting in 2005. Prior to moving to Oaxaca, he lived in San Miguel de Allende. Before that, he had lived in Peru, South Korea, and Canada. He was born in Kiev, Ukraine.
Osta participated in hundreds of group and solo exhibitions in countries including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, South Korea, Italy, France, Monaco, and Switzerland. He was exhibited in two museum shows in Italy and Mexico. His work has been offered successfully at multiple auctions and is in many private collections worldwide. He is the author of four books. He also writes music and lyrics as a hobby.
Andrew is also an avid art collector. He began by trading with his artist friends – Toller Cranston, Marion Perlet, Bruce Stuart, E.C Bell, Noah Mendelson. In 2019, he began buying paintings from artists in Ukraine, to help them during the time of conflict with Russia. Now, his Ukrainian collection includes over 60 works by approximately 10 artists. In 2025, he began collecting Cuban artists. He currently has about 30 Cuban paintings by over 10 artists. As of November 2025, he is the official representative of Jose Fuster in Mexico. Osta also collects indigenous Huichol work and antique Orthodox Christian icons.
About the Work
Osta’s paintings are as multifaceted and varied as his life. His earliest work was a complex mix of surreal, outsider, and psychedelic art. The early paintings were created automatically, without planning, in a flow of consciousness style. Later, he switched to doing whimsical naif painting, with popular themes including dining cats, flying mariachis, and tenderly embracing lovers.
He is interested in the healing potential of art. This led him to work at one point as an assistant art therapist with refugee youth. He believes that the colors and shapes of an artwork can be healing. With this in mind, he creates compositions that promote joy and wellbeing in the viewer.
