Biography
The works of the American artist Anders Dickson (*1988 Wisconsin USA) lure the viewer into a dreamlike, hallucinatory parallel world. The sculptures, drawings, and paintings containing intense colors, abstract figures, and dense landscapes, look playful and seductive. His works are fused with theoretical motifs like Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Native American symbols, mythology, philosophy, and urban spaces.
Born in Wisconsin, USA, Dickson’s art education involved a number of institutes including The Fine Arts Academy in Karlsruhe, Germany; the Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany; the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany; the University of Minnesota at the Philosophy Department in Duluth and Twin Cities, USA; and at the Ateliers in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Dickson is inspired by the tension between privacy and exposure, seen in the example of the spiral form of Amsterdam’s public urinals where the user is only partially screened from view by a metal wall with small holes in it. All these layers can make his works difficult to initially grasp, an effect which is entirely intentional by Dickson. In an interview in 2020, he states that he sees his art as “an empty glass of water in which the viewer can pore his/her own emotions.”
The color in Dickson’s work is precise. He uses color as a language: different tones allow him to conjure up a whole pallet of impressions and emotions. He often starts with a clear image in mind and the desire to depict it as realistically and precisely as possible. In this search for perfection, he gets caught up by the notion that the perfect image he had envisioned is ultimately unachievable. So, he starts to break it down and paints it all over again, leaving out elements and isolating shapes and colors. Layer upon layer, Dickson adds complexity and texture to the painting, molding each centimeter of the canvas. The acrylic paint, mixed with an oil medium that he uses, endow the work with vivid quality. The glistening surface, with all its seductive textures, pulls the viewer in, making his work pulse with life, immediacy, and presence. It not only engages the eye, but also the mind and the heart.
Dickson currently lives and works in Amsterdam. His work has been shown in dozens of solo and group shows including De Ateliers, Amsterdam (2019), Lovaas Projects, Munich (2019), The Oracle, Berlin (2018), Robert Grunenberg Gallery, Berlin (2019), and The Beach Office, Berlin (2017).