Communion Print

David Dixon started his painting career after years of being a successful chef in America and Europe. He descends from a long line of artists, most notably well known Illustrator Steven Gross. While living in New York City, Dixon studied at the Art Students League and Spring Street Studios, as well as traveling cross-country many times a year under the mentorship of Western artists, primarily Steven Lee Adams and Russell Chatham (Dixon is the sole artist to have had this privilege). Eventually his love of the West compelled him to relocate to Utah, from which the inspiring vistas could be easily accessed. Though his Tonalist roots still come through in much of his work, recent years find the artist striving for more immediacy and paint quality on the canvas. He has won accolades for his raw and emotional figurative paintings too. The artist notes, “It took a long time before I gave myself permission to evolve and move away from earlier successes, but this IS the essence of the true artist... as we grow personally, so must the art.” One sees the results of risking and searching in the artists work as well as feeling the sublime power of his vision. Currently Dixon is painting evocative figurative tableaus with an emphasis on less abstract and more representational handling. Dixon says, ”I am exploring ways to transmit a wider array of emotion than just the happy beautiful portrait style painting. With pieces missing or unfinished areas in the paintings, especially facial features, the viewer has an opportunity to overlay so much more personal experience on the works. As well as consider that the quality of painting and storytelling is about key and evocative information…not detail or quantity. Many of the current works explore this through the imagery of a lost time in American Culture… what I think of as Mid Century Idealism. I’ve been told that there is a strong socio-political current running through the works. It pleases me that some collectors will pick up on that amongst the many other subtexts.”