developed severe allergies and chemical sensitivities. In essence, the studio has become a physically toxic environment, and Lakey has already undergone four surgeries to repair the damage to his sinus cavities. His doctor, who he calls "the Tiger Woods of sinus surgery," says that of the close to 10,000 patients he’s seen, Lakey is the third most sensitive ever. Recently, Lakey started a regimen of Xolar injections, a pioneering new drug designed to interrupt the allergic process. He’s hoping that the treatment, along with further surgery, will allow him to live a better, fuller life, and to paint less restrictively--though his former pace of as many as 500 paintings a year will likely never be matched.

Therefore, the necessity to pursue other media through which to satiate Lakey’s voracious need to create. And, to fuel these new modes of expression, Lakey is tapping fresh sources for imagery, and is already passionately exploring the styles
and symbols of diverse world cultures, including Indonesia, Egypt, and India, and is working with both prehistoric iconography and space travel metaphors. Most importantly, Lakey says, "I want to create simply for the sake of it, because

it makes me happy. I’m at my best creating lines, moving and intersecting them, and I want to do that for the rest of my life."

There is one other major passion propelling Andrew Lakey now, one that will certainly effect another life transformation, and that will no doubt meaningfully surface in his art. The indefatigable creator of lines is on a journey of discovery to unearth the lines that created him. The son of an American serviceman and French woman, Lakey is actively tracing his European roots, and hopes to meet contemporary relatives who are as yet unknown to him. Lakey has few specifics, but what is known couldn’t be more dramatic. His maternal grandfather – Rufino Indarte – deserted his post as a commander in Franco’s army at the onset of the Spanish Civil War, and could never return home again. He and Andrew ’s grandmother Dolores – now near 90 and residing in Northern California – escaped fascism in 1937 on the back of a donkey, crossing the Pyrenees into France during a bitter winter.