[RODNEY DICKSON] He does not create color, but light

THE ART WORLD OF RODNEY DICKSON / <추상표현주의 화풍의 뉴요커 작가 '로드니 딕슨'의 전시 도록에 제 글이 실리는 모양입니다 2015년 뉴욕 백남준 리서치 6월 1달 체류 중 15일간 딕슨 집에 머물다>
He does not create color but discovers light

Inline image Rodney Dickson, 2021, 5 x 4 feet, oil on board 

He does not create color, he creates light.

Like a meditation, he sits staring at the painting for hours or days motionless, at one with the work. Then in a moment, he attacks the painting, savaging it as he gouges and scrapes into the colors, destroying / recreating in a second, he discovers unexpected and therefore surprising light that had been hidden, flashing from within.

Inline image Rodney Dickson, 2022, 5 x 4 feet, oil on board.

His working method is to first add a thick layer of paint in a Western style, and then remove it in an Eastern style. It is a kind of plus-minus technique. At some point, the miraculous ecstasy that comes when you scrape off the paint comes flooding back. At that time, he does not create color but discovers light. It is a new painting that is like video art expressed with paint.

Inline image Rodney Dickson, 2022, 8 x 5 feet, oil on board

His paintings are always open, without beginning or end.

His paintings could be referred to as abstract but this hardly applies, as when he works, he has no concept of figuration, abstraction, e-pressionism, or realism, he is just trying to find a genuinely new possibility. Just as a miner searches for a vein of ore, he discovers new possibilities every day. He has a way of waiting for a long time and then dramatically capturing something in an instant.

Inline image Rodney Dickson, 2017, 8 x 5 feet, oil on board

The speed is fast and slow, and the atmosphere is calm and intense.

He runs out of energy in his body while working, and it seems unlikely that he would stop doing it even if death came. His methods are unpredictable and unconditional or purposeless. He tries to capture the joys and sorrows of life through the nuances of color. Above all, he can be said to be an ‘iconographic artist’ who values and enjoys the process rather than the result. He said of his work, "I don't follow the trends of the times, I only follow my own path. I want to surprise myself in my work but how can I be surprised by something I made myself ? I try to achieve this by searching for the essence of the work, by adding, subtracting, working and reworking, creating and destroying to be left only with what is genuine and vital."

Inline image Rodney Dickson, 2023, 8 x 5 feet, oil on board

The struggle evident in his work echoes that of life.

Like all artists, he has an obsession that time is short, so from morning to evening he concentrates only on painting. As Kafka said, his way of using life is to use himself like soap. It is a kind of commitment and a fight against oneself.

Inline image Rodney Dickson, 2023, 5 x 4 feet, oil on board

"Dawn, dusk, night time, mid day, the light is sometimes so intense and magical, it obliterates almost all imagery in my work-just a blinding light."

Inline image Rodney Dickson, 2023, 8 x 5 feet, oil on board

Rodney was born in Northern Ireland in 1956

Ireland was a British colony for over 700 years. When the country became independent, Britain incorporated Northern Ireland into the United Kingdom, and there was a disastrous 'civil war (the Troubles)' that lasted for 30 years (1968-1998). The conflict between anti-British factions (Republicans, Catholics) who opposed it and pro-British factions (Loyalists, Protestants) who supported it resulted in 3,500 deaths and 50,000 casualties. As a person who has seen this for 30 years since I was a teenager, I realize that violence is not the answer and take a more peaceful approach to solve this problem. Even in New York, he now lives in Brooklyn rather than Manhattan, and this sense of place is unconsciously intertwined with the tragedy of Ireland. Did this experience affect his interpersonal relationships? He has many American friends, but he also has great compassion and interest in the underprivileged people around him. He has often worked in Asia including, Myanmar, Korea, Japan, China, Cambodia and especially Vietnam. Although he is a New Yorker, he is not only preoccupied with urban things and still loves the rural scenery like that of his native Ireland. His childlike innocence, consideration for others, empathy, and generous open heart may have come from this background. He is a very humane person, a rarity these days, he excels at what is most needed in our time - affinity.

Studied fine art at Liverpool Polytechnic, England, 1979–1983, Received two Pollock Krasner Awards, Exhibited in New York more than five times every two years, exhibited in Tokyo, Japan in 2005 and 2003, and exhibited internationally in China, Mexico, and Vietnam. He also participated in the Haeinsa Temple Art Project in Korea. He is in his 26 years of operation in Brooklyn, New York.

by - Hyung-soon Kim(Art journalist)