The GOODS from The Acorn

Vancouver, BC | The Acorn Artist Series shines a light on artists in Vancouver whose work we admire greatly and wish to proliferate in our own humble way. Each month we make a new artist postcard that gets handed out to our guests who are free to frame it, mail it, or fold it into an airplane and surprise their neighbour.

For March and April we are pleased to present “Teal Bouquet,” a painting by Vancouver-based artist Andy Dixon. As long time admirers of Andy’s work we were excited to ask him a few questions to help shed some light onto his process, influences and vision behind his new paintings…

What is it about your subjects that interest you? It seems your paintings could either be taking a subtle jab at the bourgeoisie or celebrating it. The very lack of a political statement behind my subject matter is the closest thing to a political statement in my work. I think the subjects are there to expose the viewers prejudices one way or the other. For me, these figures simply exist just as they do in reality – it’s neither a jab or a celebration, or maybe it’s simultaneously both. Fundamentally, though, they exist as a humorous counterpoint to my painting style, which I would consider unrefined.

Would you say there’s a particular moment in the history of painting that you’re drawn to? Despite the seemingly nostalgic vibe to my work, I’m a firm believer in the present and am constantly pushing towards the future. I think my work has a lot to do with exploring contemporary art by connecting it to the past. With that said, though, I do find myself incredibly moved by impressionism and fauvism. It was such a revolution in colour.

Over the years your work has consistently had a balance of child-like playfulness in your use of colour and how you render your forms, whether abstract or representational, with a level of sophistication. How would you place these newer, larger scaled paintings in regards to past work? What was the evolution? The evolution has been slow and completely organic. Essentially, I started out using child-like mark-making and have been very slowly curating them into representational forms. I’m intentionally fighting against my natural inclination to switch things up too quickly, which is allowing my work to change and evolve at a natural, slow pace. In fact, I hardly notice the change until I take the time to look at the work I was doing a year ago and compare. My work is definitely tightening up a bit and I’m just not taking any steps to hinder my natural progression. I’ll see where it leads me!

Are there any other painters whose work you’re into right now? If I started making a list of inspiring artists, I wouldn’t know where to stop! Here are three from the past and present that I’ve been all about lately – Édouard Vuillard, Bob Thompson, and Jonas Wood.

DETAILS

3995 Main Street | Vancouver, BC
Telephone: 604-566-9001 | Email: [email protected]
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Hours: Sunday to Wednesday – Dinner until 10:30pm / Bar Service until 12am
Thursday to Saturday – Dinner until 11pm / Bar Service until 1am

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