Andy Dixon roughs up his refined subjects using renegade colours and coarsely applied acrylics, crayon and oil. The works of the Vancouver-based artist, graphic designer and musician defy convention.
The artist combines outrageous satire with authentic pathos, resulting in endlessly inventive, altogether otherworldly work. . . . He gives us back the familiar forms of history and art, transformed with startling, fearful freshness. – Art Critic Michael Lapointe (Top: At the Match #2 / Above: Romantic in Nice / Below: Lord on a Horse)
Dixon’s works offer a fresh perspective on the portrait style, especially for subjects in the ruling classes. He easily sends up lords, generals, polo players. (Below: Portrait of a Lord #2)
He also takes on art traditions. Here, he toughens up Manet’s Olympia, reworking it in Fauvism, the style of a group of French painters led by Henri Matisse who used outrageously bold colors. (Below: Olympia after Manet)
Dixon, also a talented musician and album cover artist, made his first punk band appearance at age 12. He says his paintings flow from the same kind of emoting. Now in his 30s, the punk scene left him with “nothing more to be embarrassed about,” resulting in uninhibited artistic power. (See video interview on Hot Art Wet City, here)
Dixon’s colour sense originates in the Pacific Northwest:
Growing up in Vancouver has greatly helped to inform my sense of personal aesthetics – colour palettes and form, for example. I seem to use colours that mimic the sea, cherry blossoms, and the green rain forests of North Vancouver, where I was raised. – Interview on The Garmentory. (Above: Hunting / Below Parisian Romantic)
Andy Dixon is a Vancouver-based painter, graphic artist and musician. He exhibits widely and was nominated for a 2013 Juno award in Recording Package of the Year for his work on Said The Whale’s Little Mountain.
See much more on Andy Dixon’s website, here.
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Thanks for sharing these pictures…I just became an Andy Dixon fan!
we are planning this amazing art tour to Rome, Umbria, Tuscany and Florence! this group has 12 people and is filling in very quickly. hoping to have a lot of fun!!
Anyone interested can contact Lindy Rothenburger, MCC Travel consultant @ 604- 961-9756 or Lori Goldberg @ lorgold@telus.net.
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and some might say Basquiat neatened up by the Canadian sensibility.
I think that’s especially astute, Bulrush. Very true. All these genre suggestions are great.
Looks like “New Modernism” to me.
Also a great suggestion for this genre. Tells you how out there he is, though, doesn’t it? Love his work.
Very lively and potentially powerful. Love it.
superb. if there’s a term like punk fauvism, it should be coined for this. thanks!
That’s a great observation – love it. Thanks.