Jane Dickson is a contemporary artist born in Chicago, Illinois in the year 1952. Dickson is best known for two basic ideas themes found in her art. One idea is that of painting the night life of the Big Apple, New York city. Not only the night life, but in particular the seedy part of town including hookers and police on the beat. She also is known for painting on carpet, many times in fact she has painted on astroturf. It gives her work a surreal feeling and feeling of space.
For her collegiate studies Dickson attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She also studied at the Boston Museum School of the Fine Arts.
In this clip we see the artist talking about a series she made concerning gambling.
In this clip we see Jane Dickson give a brief presentation at a college campus alongside her husband film director Charles Ahearn. Dickson’s part of the interview starts close to 3:10 into the clip. Ahearn has long worked with exploring culture such as the graffiti artists of New York such as Martin Wong to the hip hop scene. Ahearn was a chief producer in the movie Wild Style, this movie documented the hip hop scene of the 1970s and 1980s.
Jane Dickson artwork reminds me of the artist Susan Grossman. Grossman works in charcoal and pastels on paper and her works have a great sense of atmosphere and give the feeling of the movement of lights and darks thru the big city. Below is a great example of Susan Grossman’s style using charcoal and pastel on paper.
Not only does Dickson use carpet and astroturf she experimented with vinyl and sandpaper for her surfaces.
Dickson has artwork in many prestigious museums including the Chicago Institute of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of Art.
The artist has done a public commission mosaic work for the MTA station on 42nd street in New York city.
A link to Jane Dickson’s own website: http://janedickson.com/
Price range information: Etchings can be found from $500 to $1000. Works in oils range from $1,000 to $7,000.
I find Dickson’s work awesome for its use of carpet and other surfaces. In much the same manner of painting with oils on copper, painting on carpet brings a unique textural feel also. It seems perfecting for depicting night scenes where many edges are lost and dark shadows are found in many locations. Try painting your favorite city on a unique surface like carpet or turf!
Happy painting!
D
Diattaart Blog 