There are two sides to Andrés Izquierdo, WCL/LLM ’19, CAS/MFA ’25.

An attorney with more than 20 years of experience in intellectual property law, Izquierdo is counsel and senior research analyst at the Washington College of Law. He works on the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property’s Right to Research in International Copyright Project, representing AU at the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization offices in Geneva, Switzerland.

Izquierdo is also a painter driven by creative expression, and an artist whose work reimagines portraits of well-known figures and historical moments through a contemporary lens.

With dueling interests stimulating different hemispheres in his brain, Izquierdo has allowed his two loves to flourish at American University.

After starting work at WCL in 2016, Izquierdo discovered a hidden talent for painting. While recovering from surgery, he signed up for an hourlong watercolor class at his local library in Middleburg, Virginia. It was love at first brushstroke.

That reintroduction to a childhood activity taught him the fundamentals of painting. He decided to take on the challenge of recreating a favorite print from Rembrandt. Friends and family with whom he shared the completed work told him he was on to something.

“I began to paint, and I haven’t been able to stop,” Izquierdo said.

In 2021, Izquierdo enrolled in AU’s studio art MFA program to help him harness his talent. He took one class per semester, learning and painting while he continued to work full-time.

Last week, Izquierdo graduated from the program. Some of his work is on view at the AU Museum at the Katzen Arts Center through May 18, as part of an MFA thesis exhibition that features five other Eagles.

Izquierdo’s contribution to Transit is Hippos and Coke. The oil paintings depict the so-called “cocaine hippos” imported by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. After Escobar was killed in 1993, four of the animals escaped and have since taken over the local ecosystem, with the herd now numbering around 200 hippos.

“The art is really not about the hippopotamus,” Izquierdo said. “It’s about the misuse of power and how a selfish decision made by a handful of people who are in power can affect generations.”

Hippos and Coke extends Izquierdo’s practice of using portraiture to explore the lasting imprints of power on society. His work depicts political leaders, cultural icons, and symbolic events and invites viewers to reflect on their own place in those stories.

Through classwork and his own projects, Izquierdo’s Instagram has become a virtual scrapbook of his art. To date, more than 40 of his paintings have been sold by Transformers, an artist-centered visual arts nonprofit in DC. 

As he continues to paint, he has advice for others who are curious about delving into another side of themselves.

“Explore things,” Izquierdo said. “I went to see what painting was all about. Sometimes, if you don’t explore, you can miss an opportunity.”