In our Artist File column, art advisor Diana Hamm of WK ART shares the artists that have caught her eye.
The Artist: Andy Dixon’s brightly colored paintings, largely in pink and teal, dissect cultural symbols of status and wealth, both as a means to investigate our interest in these things and to poke fun at the importance we place on them. Originally a punk musician from Vancouver, he’s pivoted to full-time painter with a cult following, due to his use of symbols such as Versace-style shirts and iconic art.
The Works: His last exhibition took place in Los Angeles in 2021 and focused on paintings themselves as the ultimate status symbol. This symbiotic relationship has existed for as long as fine art painting itself. Whether it’s portraits of Renaissance men surrounded by treasured belongings or Flemish still lifes incorporating exotic fruit and animal carcasses to display a wealth of knowledge and possession, paintings as a means of showing off is nothing new. “The paradox that art is one of the highest achievements of humankind — one of the few things I think about every waking moment — and also a kind of luxury commodity that is bought, sold, traded and shown off as a status symbol, is absolutely hilarious to me,” says Andy. And so, from this notion, he reimagines this tradition and, in this latest series, homes in on an aesthetic that exudes opulence, luxury and all that is enviable.