Andrew Wykes was born just outside of London in 1960. He studied at Richmond upon Thames College as well as Epsom School of Art and Design, where he received his undergraduate qualifications in fine art. He received his MFA in painting from American University in Washington, D.C. and has taught art for over 37 years in the UK, Belgium and the U.S. Wykes has exhibited nationally and internationally, and his paintings are included in numerous collections in the U.S. and Europe. He received Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants in 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2019. He also holds the Agnes Hulburd Conger Prize for Excellence in the Humanities for outstanding research as a painter from Hamline University.

In 2009, he was awarded a fellowship at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Mayo, Ireland. where he teaches landscape drawing and painting workshops during the summers. He is one of four Minnesota painters featured in filmmaker Kristen Lowe’s documentary Painting the Place Between. Wykes is a professor of painting at Hamline University in St. Paul.

In 2019 Wykes was selected to be filmed as a participant for the Sky Television series Landscape Artist of the Year.