Local artist shares love of painting with a regional flare
by Lorne Chambers | editor
For the better part of the last decade, local artist André Singleton has been encouraging others to unlock their inner Van Gogh. In fact, his business, Art with André, even offers a popular class called “Southern Delight” inspired by the famous Dutch impressionist’s Starry Night painting. But Singleton’s twist on Van Gogh’s classic is that he juxtaposes the big swirling patterns of deep blue sky, spinning stars, and glowing moon with a depiction of the iconic blocky mid-century style of the West Ashley Waffle House located at the foot of the Ashley River Bridge.
On Monday, Aug. 25, Singleton led the “Southern Delight” class at Ireland’s Own/Jägerhaus Pub, located just a few miles down Savannah Highway from the 24-hour diner where Anthony Bourdain famously had his first late-night Waffle House experience along with Sean Brock on the Charleston episode of his CNN show Parts Unknown back in 2015.
“Everyone has a Waffle House story, if you’re from the south,” says Singleton, who after graduating from West Ashley High School, served in the Marine Corps for a bit, which prepared him for his next job, managing a Waffle House in Atlanta.
Everyone in the South may indeed have a Waffle House story or at least some kind of affinity for the classic southern eatery, but Singlton likely has you beat when it comes to tales from the griddle. He recalls the time when a drug deal went wrong at his restaurant and culminated in a shooting outside. He also once got into a heated confrontation with Grammy-winning hip-hop artist Killer Mike after the Dirty South rapper was rude to one of his servers.
Waffle House is a beloved Southern institution, it’s also notorious for wild behavior and drunken revelry. This often shows up into people’s paintings in various ways, says Singleton. One painter last month had the Waffle House on fire, bright flames shooting up into his Starry Night.
Singleton is a graduate of the first-ever class at West Ashley High School back in 2002. “But I’m a Razorback at heart,” he says about the three years he spent at Middleton High before West Ashley’s two high schools merged in 2000.
After his time in Atlanta, Singleton returned to the Lowcountry. He took a painting class and was surprised by how much he enjoyed it. He had always been artistic, a prolific illustrator, but had never taken a formal art class. He was hooked and eventually launched Art With André to share his passion with others. Now, he hosts classes regularly at Ireland’s Own/Jägerhaus Pub in West Ashley, as well as classes in Summerville and Mount Pleasant.
“People come in and say ‘I can’t do it. I can’t do it.’ And then the sit down and it starts flowing,” says Singleton, who describes his classes as “super chill and freestyle.”
“I love watching people transform into artists,” he says. “I get them started and offer some tips, then I sit back and let the magic happen.”
Art With André has dozens of different theme nights, of course, pets are always popular.
“People know their pets better than I do. So, I just show them the style of getting the fur right and let them put their pet’s personality into it,” says Singleton, adding that Holidays are always popular themes. Halloween is just around the corner and so there will be lots of Hokus Pokus and Nightmare Before Christmas portraits.
Singleton says each part of Charleston is a little bit different. Mount Pleasant loves beach and marsh scenes, Summerville loves pets and animals, and West Ashley is all over the board. Yes, we love our pets, but we also have a little quirkier vibe, thus the Starry Night at the Waffle House mashup. While the West Ashley Waffle House is undoubtedly part of the fabric of West Ashley, Singleton says he’d like to offer a class that incorporates the iconic Coburg Cow into it.
For more information or to book an Art with André class, visit www.artwithandre.com or follow him on social media.
