I cannot get enough of this weeks Artist Spotlight Series featured artist.  Andy Dixon‘s wild use of color and subject matter truly speak to me. Enjoy getting to know him. 

“Vancouver- based artist Andy Dixon’s latest works obviously borrow subject matter from the greats – Rousseau, Matisse, Picasso – even as a punk sensibility permeates them. Hues are outrageous and paint is coarsely applied. His warped appropriations invite the viewer to invent a new understanding of the subjects.” 

– The Vancouver Sun

Andy Dixon

Vancouver, British Columbia

What is your training?

I have no formal academic training. I’m a self-taught “outsider artist”.

 

What inspires you and your designs?

It’s a cop-out answer, but virtually every morsel of sensory stimuli, I guess. I think any visual creative person is constantly looking at the world around them, assessing what they like, or don’t like, and asking themselves why.

 

What is your favorite piece? 

My favourite painting ever is probably Matisse’s Red Studio

 

How has the your area influenced your work?

Vancouver is a very young city so there is a wild west vibe here in a way. Since it has such a relatively short history (colonial-wise, anyway) there is a spirit of potentiality here, like a teenager who hasn’t found out who she wants to be just yet. I think my work embraces that.

 

What is your favorite restaurant in Vancouver?

This little Ethiopian place called Fassil.

 

What is your favorite cocktail?

Negroni.

 

How do you balance personal life and work?

I get a good dose of personal life in my evenings and work more or less every other second that I’m awake. The work never really stops, though. Generally my social-life is among other artists, writers, curators, and other creative people, so all we talk about is each other’s work anyway.

 

Dream trip?

Amalfi Coast

 

Dream commission?

Something for Kanye West.

 

Your favorite host / hostess gift to give?

Wine.

 

Who is your style icon?

Elliot Gould’s character in the remake of Ocean’s 11.

 

Your favorite up and coming artist?

Kuh Del Rosario

 

What is your most treasured possession?

A coffee mug from 1978 with Rowlf from the Muppets on it.

 

What are you reading?

In The Shadow of Young Girls in Flower by Proust.

 

What are you listening to?

Codeine Crazy by Future is the only song I’ve listened to all week.

What are your favorite blogs / publications?

I have a stack of vintage Playboys in my studio and the writing in them is incredible.

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Watch this video if you have a few minutes.  It does not disappoint. 

Enjoy the works of the ever talented Andy Dixon. Oddly, his works remind me of a favorite movie, The Royal Tenebaums. 

Follow Andy Dixon on Facebook, Twitter,  Instagram and Tumblr. See his work at Rebecca Hossack and the Wally Workman Gallery. 

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Happy Shopping and thank you for following along my daily musings.

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