Interview
Dex Hannon
Dex Hannon is an abstract expressionist who moves effortlessly between paint, digital, sound, and photography mediums.
Hannon regularly exhibits in the UK. In 2020, he was awarded the ‘Best in Show’ prize for the inaugural Art Folio Annual Award.
Hannon currently lives and works in Blyth Northumberland, UK.
What is your background and how did you start your journey?
“I grew up in Manchester. My folks are, and have always been not your typical parents. They didn’t want a TV, so I grew up with books, music, and losing yourself in whatever your passion was. Like most artists, I was always drawing. I started by copying comic art, then slowly moved into portraits, and then more psychedelic art.
After leaving school, I studied design with the intention of becoming a graphic designer. I spent 7 years in higher education. By the end of it, I knew I wasn’t a designer. I was an artist through and through. That was where my passion lay. Fortunately, I twisted my degree in the final year to be an art project.
From then on, it’s been art all the way. I moved further and further away from graphical works and more into an abstract expressionist style.”
What inspires you most?
“My biggest inspiration is change. To look at something and wonder about what else it could be. Nothing is a fixed thing. It can be reinterpreted, manipulated, broken down and remade.
I also use music as a source of inspiration, similar to Mark Rothko and Gerhard Richter. I transform the memories and emotions evoked by the music into dynamic and expressive brushstrokes on canvas. I would define my paintings as sublime pictorial symphonies characterized by an intricate weaving of lines that capture an infinite string of emotions, conveyed through a range of textures and bold color palettes.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I’m constantly asking, ‘What else can it be?’ Nothing needs to stand still, not even my creativity. I love to write, make music and paint, and these are all seeds for my work. I enjoy translating words, either the poems of Dexuality Valentino - an alter ego of mine - or re-imagining music as art using Skin Vehicles/DVEC’s Music - more alter egos.
I also use more familiar music from people as diverse as Animal Collective, Zappa, Bjork or Manu Chao. I take what I feel from the music and translate it into color and movement on the canvas. But this is only the start. I’ll then take that painting and using the bones of it, create a digital response, either in agreement with the painting, or as an argument against the painting. Sometimes it’s a continuation of discourse between the two. I call this digitally remixing. In some cases, I may also digitally remix the remix. I call that style Retro-Futurism, taking ideas from the past to build the future.”
“In my Retro-Futurism series, I
give a new life to my paintings by photographing them during the creative process, and then digitally recreating them by combining multiple artworks. This allows me to create a brand new artwork that re-imagines and reinterprets the original.
I find it interesting that the digital remix takes on a life of its own, and can be more important than the original painting - its past self.
But the remix owes everything to that original painting because without it, it could not exist.”
How would you describe your work?
“I’m an abstract expressionist painter and digital remixer. I see myself as having one foot in the future and one in the past.”
Which artists influence you most?
“This is like asking me what music I love. It changes daily, but there are staple artists who are always in my mind, like Gerhard Richter. He has managed to remain important and changes constantly, and has remembered that play and exploration are the most important parts of being an artist. I also love Rothko’s minimalism and use of color.”
What is your creative process like?
“I’ll listen to music, and if something in there touches me, I explore how it will work—how it will be constructed, speed of movement, colors, stroke style, and much more. This cognitive process can take a while and is never the same.
For instance, the reinterpretation of the song So Long Maryanne by Leonard Cohen can be seen in my painting, Razor Blade Cold (first image below). I knew almost immediately how it would be painted and the color. I knew the stroke and the movement; it was all there. But creating the reinterpretation of Manu Chao in my painting, As Above So Below (second image below), took some time to work out. I needed to work through how the colors bounced with each other, and to the viewer.
Then comes the next phase. When most would say the journey is over, I’ll keep looking back at the painting, looking for a new interpretation. Can I see something else there that can be digitally remixed or reinterpreted?
For me, the painting is never the end.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“I see artists and creatives as the people that reinterpret the world and see it through a different lens. We look at the world, break it apart, and then recreate it from our viewpoint. We are all slightly broken toys playing with the world. The creatives’ role is as important as it always has been, though politically in the UK, it’s been greatly maligned and ignored. In some cases, it’s been threatened with removal from education. I find this incredibly short-sighted.
The creative industry is worth $116bn to the economy, and all that creativity started with playing with crayons in a school.”
Please tell us about any previous exhibitions you found noteworthy and wish to share.
“I was absolutely thrilled to be included in Colorbox show, KRAFTSTROM B 22 at the José Carlos Mariátegui Museum in Lima, Peru. This was my first notable exhibition since the pandemic.
Also, winning Best in Show, Art Folio Art Prize 2020 was a great honour.”
Photography of the artist at work is by Mark Hillyer – True North UK.
