About Andrew Viera
Sarasota Fine Artist, Muralist & Visual Storyteller
For Andrew Viera, art has never really been about making something perfect. It is about making something feel real.
A Florida native with deep roots in the Sarasota and Bradenton area, Andrew is a fine artist and muralist in Sarasota, FL whose work is inspired by the places, people, wildlife and stories that make Florida's Gulf Coast what it is. From enormous public murals and immersive commercial installations to original fine art and one-of-a-kind commissioned paintings, Andrew approaches every project with the same goal: create something that belongs exactly where it is.
If you live around Sarasota, Bradenton or Anna Maria Island, there is a good chance you have already seen Andrew's work without realizing it. His murals can be found throughout the area, including work for Mote Marine, Marina Jack, Anna Maria Oyster Bar, O'Leary's Tiki Bar & Grill and Cortez Clam Factory, along with public art projects and private commissions across Florida.
Art Was Always There
Andrew's interest in art started simply. As a kid, one sketch was enough to get him hooked. He has joked that a lot of his early art education came from watching Bob Ross, but for many years, painting remained something he did because he loved it rather than something he imagined would become a career.
After leaving Palmetto High School, Andrew joined the U.S. Army, an experience he credits with changing the direction of his life and teaching him about leadership, discipline and responsibility. Even thousands of miles from Florida, art found its way back in.
During his first deployment to Afghanistan, Andrew's unit discovered leftover paint inside a 40-foot shipping container. Andrew photographed his approximately 60-person platoon and used that paint to create a mural of them at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand Province — an early glimpse of a recurring theme throughout his career: taking a place, the people connected to it and the story behind it, and turning all of that into something visual.
When his military service ended, Andrew returned home and spent several years building boats with Marine Concepts in Sarasota, painting on the side for family and friends. Then the murals started getting bigger. And people started noticing.
From One Sarasota-Bradenton Mural to the Next
One of Andrew's first major local mural opportunities came at Anna Maria Oyster Bar in Ellenton, where he painted a set of angel wings made from oysters. He is refreshingly open about how much his work has evolved since then — his colors became more expressive, his technique more confident, and his understanding of scale, environment and the relationship between a mural and its space continued to develop.
What began with smaller projects grew into an increasingly recognizable collection of work around Sarasota and Bradenton. Today, Andrew's murals appear in restaurants, hospitality spaces, public places and major cultural destinations throughout the region.
Andrew isn't simply a muralist working in Sarasota, FL. The water, wildlife, landmarks and character of this part of Florida are part of his own story. He has spent his life here. He fishes these waters. He knows the landscape. And when a project calls for something distinctly Floridian, he knows the real thing.
Seven Murals for Mote Science Education Aquarium
That connection to Florida became especially important when Andrew was selected to create a series of seven major murals for the Mote Science Education Aquarium (Mote SEA), near Nathan Benderson Park — one of the largest and most ambitious projects of his career.
Andrew had previously created artwork at Mote's City Island facility. His work caught the attention of Mote's exhibits team, ultimately leading to his selection by Whiting-Turner Contracting Company for the new aquarium project. Beginning in April 2024, Andrew spent roughly 17 months bringing the environments surrounding Mote SEA's exhibits to life, at times working from scaffolding high above the aquarium floor.
These weren't murals designed to simply sit behind an exhibit — they needed to become part of it. Andrew researched the individual environments, drawing on his own experience as a lifelong Florida resident and avid fisherman while visiting the locations represented in the exhibits. The result is intentionally immersive, extending the physical exhibits into painted environments so visitors feel they are stepping into the Florida landscape itself.
And they are deliberately not flawless. Andrew likes visible brushwork, changes in color, organic transitions and small imperfections that remind you a person actually stood there and painted the wall. Nature isn't perfect, either.
Painting the Sarasota Story
Andrew's work is increasingly becoming part of Sarasota's public landscape. His "Where Time Meets Community" mural was selected as part of the City of Sarasota's public art program, celebrating the history and cultural identity of Southside Village.
A mural can make a wall beautiful, but the best public art can do much more. It can tell people something about where they are, preserve pieces of local history, spark conversations and turn an otherwise ordinary space into a landmark. Andrew approaches public and commercial mural projects by first understanding the story the artwork needs to tell — sometimes a neighborhood, sometimes a business, sometimes wildlife, water and the natural environment, and sometimes something deeply personal.
Fine Art Beyond the Wall
Murals may be Andrew's most publicly visible work, but they are only part of what he creates. As a Sarasota fine artist, Andrew also creates original paintings and commissioned fine art for collectors, businesses and private clients. His work frequently pulls from the imagery that surrounds him: Florida wildlife, marine life, water, local landmarks and the unmistakable character of the Gulf Coast.
Working on canvas lets him take the storytelling and expressive color found in his murals into a much more intimate setting. A custom piece might commemorate a meaningful location, bring together several elements of someone's story, capture a favorite part of Florida, or simply begin with an idea the client wants Andrew to interpret in his own style. The result isn't intended to look mass-produced. It is supposed to mean something.
Live Painting and Creating Art in the Moment
Andrew also brings his process directly in front of an audience through live event painting. In 2026, he was selected as one of the artists participating in the Art Tower at BAM!Fest, the Bradenton Art & Music Festival, creating a large-scale painting live while visitors watched the piece take shape.
For that project, Andrew envisioned a manatee carrying pieces of Bradenton and Anna Maria Island across its back, with local landmarks, restaurants and imagery brought together through one of Florida's most recognizable animals. It is the kind of concept that sums up his work particularly well: local, personal, a little unexpected, and unmistakably Florida.
An Artist Shaped by Sarasota
Andrew's career has taken him from painting his Army platoon on a shipping container in Afghanistan to standing on towering scaffolding painting immersive Florida habitats inside one of Sarasota's most significant new cultural attractions. There wasn't a straight line between those two points — and that is probably part of what makes the work what it is.
Whether he is working on a 60-inch canvas or a wall measured in hundreds of feet, Andrew still wants the work to feel like it was made by a person, not manufactured by a process. You should be able to get close enough to see the brushstrokes, find details you didn't notice the first time, and feel some connection to the story behind it.
For businesses, architects, developers, municipalities and organizations searching for an experienced muralist in Sarasota, FL — or collectors looking for an original fine artist in Sarasota — Andrew offers something difficult to manufacture: an artist whose work is genuinely connected to the community and landscape around him. Because for Andrew, Sarasota isn't simply where he works. It is home.
Commission an Original Work by Andrew Viera
Andrew accepts select commissions for custom fine art, residential and commercial murals, public art, hospitality projects and live event painting throughout Sarasota, Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, Anna Maria Island and the surrounding Gulf Coast.
Whether you have an entire wall waiting for a story or an idea for a painting that belongs in your home, it all starts with a conversation.