IN THE STUDIO WITH ANDY DIXON
Photos: Alison Page
Prior to my interview with Andy Dixon, I’m nervous. Not that there’s any reason to be. From what I know, the Vancouver-based musician and artist has the reputation of being extremely humble. In the last few years, Dixon, who’s performed in several bands and recorded solo works since age 12, has made the shift to focus solely on his art. His paintings, mainly inspired by aristocratic and renaissance times, and his consistent use of bright, punchy colours are extraordinary (to say the least). Moments after I walk up to his Mount Pleasant studio, I am warmly welcomed and we sit down as he chats about making a commitment to his art, daily rituals, living in Vancouver and his much-deserved success.
PRIOR TO THIS, YOU WERE A MUSICIAN, AND YOUR CAREER MOVE WAS PARTLY INSPIRED BY YOUR FATHER. CAN YOU ELABORATE?
"One year, I had an existential crisis where I felt really lost in music and didn’t know what to do. I had this conversation with my dad, saying, ‘I’ve always been more of a musician,’ and he was like, ‘Really? I’ve always thought of you as an artist who makes music sometimes.’ It was totally surprising. But it wasn’t just my dad, a lot of my friends said the same thing. I’ve played a million shows and at my art openings I’m experiencing more joy – everyone said that was pretty obvious."
HOW DO YOU CONCEIVE A PAINTING FROM START TO FINISH? WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS?
"I like to paint how a kid paints, before we all hit 12 and learnt how to draw in class, the oval with the eyes in the middle, you know. You kind of lose this magic, the thing you did before where you just started and just did it. That’s my process. A lot of the work I do is illusions to older renaissance and impressionist work, so in a lot of ways I have the luxury of having the composition already. I’ll roll out a color – each of my pieces you can see has an initial colour that sort of becomes the background theme."
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH CRITICISM?
"I definitely get anxiety about it. But when you’ve been making things for so long - nothing really matters and as a creative person, it’s absurd to think that what one does could possibly appeal to every person on the planet. I don’t expect everyone who comes into the studio to like each of these paintings or even any of them. I don’t see that as a strike against the work, it’s just not a good fit."
HOW DO YOU STAY FOCUSED AND KEEP DOING THE WORK?
"There’s something about painting that feels just like I’m going to work every day, maybe because there is a certain amount of physical work involved. As soon as I walk in the door I just put on my painting clothes and get to work. Partly because I’m excited, but as I get older I think I’m becoming more disciplined. Also, what else am I going to do in the day? This is it."
DESCRIBE A TYPICAL DAY FOR YOU.
"I just come in and do it. As soon as that door’s closed, I quickly get into painting clothes. It sounds silly but it’s a physical state change, the second I get my paint-covered sweatshirt on, I’m ready to go. The days when I decide I’m going to check my emails before I get those clothes on, like today, I never pick up a paintbrush."
HAVE YOU EVER FELT FINANCIALLY STRESSED?
"You have to understand that for 10 years of my life as a musician, I was financially stressed (laughs). I’ve been poor for a long time. I was so used to the lifestyle of living off nothing that I was like, ‘well I’ll live off nothing doing this instead.’ It took more investment of course, but it was miraculous how it all went down. It was the most absurd choice I could have made, and at the time it didn’t make any sense to do it. It’s insane to recount how the last five years went down, I can’t explain it. It feels amazing not to be struggling as much. Not that I’m buying a house or anything, but I’m paying rent now (laughs)."
WHAT WOULD YOU TELL SOMEONE WANTING TO PURSUE A CREATIVE FIELD?
"What happened with me was so miraculous and random I don’t know how I did it. And I don’t know how I could ever do it again. What happened just all came from making the choice and just doing it. Realizing that each painting you’re going to do or each song you write or whatever – is going to be better and some are going to be a hit and some are not and just make more and more and more. And do it every day."
WHAT PLACES INSPIRE YOU?
"Paris and the south of France – the history of impressionism there is just unreal. It’s where Matisse lived and did most of his work. I’m a sucker for the heat and all the ferns and stuff like that so the south of France is like Hawaii but with less oversized shitty t-shirts and flip-flops, you know?"
HAVE YOU HAD ANY STRANGE COMMISSION REQUESTS?
"I had this one woman contact me from California. I don’t really like doing commissions generally. She described this full scene: ‘I want a topless woman sitting on a stool that’s floating on a pond. I want three flamingos on the right and a lemur perched on her shoulder, and I want these-coloured hibiscus flowers.’ I never replied, I was like, I’m not touching this. It’s not what I do."
DO YOU HAVE PLANS FOR THE ‘FUTURE’ AS A PAINTER?
"I’m fighting against the natural tendency that creative people have to move fast. I see it with a lot of my painter friends where they’re manic about their direction. Matisse did his nudes for 15 years and that’s all he did.
"I think having the discipline to stick with something is important. Despite me trying not to have things evolve too quickly, they’re evolving anyway. When I look at a painting I’m doing now compared to what I did last year, they look quite different. So the idea is to keep the themes the same. I’m still really interested in the aristocratic life – a call out to painting expensive objects by thereby poignantly making expensive objects is fascinating to me. So I’m just going to keep going with that, for 15 years (laughs)."
