Volta New York

ANDY DIXON

Andy Dixon’s work is consummately aware of the art-world’s relationship with money. His large, instantly recognizable paintings often retread similar subject matter and themes: lavish (Dutch-influenced) still lives, reclining nudes, ornate ballrooms, bathing beauties, or – most recently – paintings of patrons’ homes (where his own paintings feature prominently on the walls in the background), paintings of ‘fancy things’, or of fashionable garments: most notably his recent collaboration with fashion house Versace, resulting in an oversized (2 metre tall) Versace shirt, and even a line of luxury bedding released by the brand. Borrowing content from Renaissance and Rococo art, Flemish still-life tradition, a loose yet definitive style that is both Classically informed and contemporarily irrelevant, his own work asks, “What is the value of a painting of a valuable object? As Alex Quicho writes in Luxury Object, Luxury Subject, “His postmodern non-interest in either vilifying or reifying luxury cooly transmutes its weirdness.” A self-taught painter and former punk-rocker, his own persona projects from his work – like a modern-day Andy Warhol, and Dixon situates himself somehow as a critical but complicit player within a larger arena. His treatment of the high-brow content in a crude manner, matching a vivid pastel palette with rough line treatment, brings this tongue-in-cheek awareness to the forefront. His practice has recently expanded to include 3D sculptures which mimic the figures in his paintings—absurdly disproportionate, yet still created with an eye toward beauty. In this way, Dixon’s own appreciation of his subject matter is evident; and while his work questions the subjective valuation of artwork, it also proves that it doesn’t necessarily detract from its beauty.

ANDY DIXON (b. 1979, Vancouver, Canada) lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Solo exhibitions include: ‘Look at This Stuff Isn’t It Neat’, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York (2019); ‘Alchemy’ BEERS London, London, UK (2018), ‘On the Ceiling of my Suite in the Royal Palace, Wilding Cran, Los Angeles (2018); ‘Expensive Things II’, Winsor Gallery, Art Toronto (2016); ‘Expensive Things I’, Winsor Gallery, Art Toronto (2016); and ‘Leisure Studies’, RHG, New York (2015). Group exhibitions & fairs include: ’10 Year Anniversary’, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York (2018); ‘Drawing Room’ OTI, Hong Kong (2018); ‘How Much do They Cost?’, PULSE Miami Beach with BEERS London (2018); ‘O Canada’, BEERS London, London, UK (2017); ‘Pronk’, Volta New York with BEERS London (2017); New York (2017), ‘Art Seattle’, Windsor Gallery, Seattle (2017); and ‘Art Toronto’, Windsor gallery, Toronto (2016).