I’m really excited with these two paintings I’m working on! My main approach to a canvas is abstract and everything I do is intentional. Base coats bleed through, brushstrokes create small moments of light and colours are picked with an underlying meaning – The closer you look, the more you can find all the details
Two shots of a new piece I am working on. It’s not quite done yet…or maybe it is. I decided to leave it for a few days, put the brush down, step back from the painting and let the ideas settle into the canvas.
Video taken from a train in Toronto, and overlayed together. Reverb and space are added to the audio to create the dreamscape feeling.
Painting has been an integral part of my practice. I enjoy the process; dipping my brush and letting the paint find it’s way around the canvas. A way to decompress, sort through new ideas and see the world in a different way.
Working on a new piece at my studio and it’s coming together so nicely. I use a lot of dry brush technique to get my blending game strong, so I’m really stoked with how this one looks. A few more layers and it’ll be ready.
Grainy Vhs footage in my studio, late at night. Images flicker and cut into each other and urge you to look deeper, as the drone of voices and noise build and build…
On a recent trip back home to see my family, I felt inspired to shoot some video with my mom. We were casually talking about creativity and what we find inspiring as artists and I said “today is inspiring, right now is inspiring”. We decided to go out for a walk, to look and listen to our immediate surroundings. My mom wanted to contemplate her surroundings in this moment, and I wanted to play with my steadicam. So this little snippet came to life.
My video work is always a reflection of my experience and where I have come from. My regional experience is both rural and urban and these spaces continue to fill my creative well. Images are overlayed and reflect on each other how beautiful, unfamiliar and overwhelming this experience can be.
Screenshots from a work in progress.
My studio is located in the heart of downtown Winnipeg, in the historic Exchange District. The area is a hub for restaurants, galleries and all things arts related. Some nights the area is full with the hustle and sounds of people moving through the streets and sidewalks. Other nights it is a ghost town. No matter what the mood, I love being perched up on the 4th floor of my building listening, seeing and absorbing all the eclectic energy. It engages my creativity, being in this neighbourhood and I look forward to spending 2022 here in my studio.
jamesdixon | film 