PROVENANCE
Featuring
JULIAN DIX
Headbones Gallery
&
CADILLAC BOB
The Drawers Gallery
with works by Otto, Ursus and Jan Dix
Jan 18 - Mar 9, 2024
Headbones Gallery
Up Next
Monsters, Fantasy and the Female to the Power of Seven
FeaturingLynden Beesley
&
Wendy Anderson
Mar 30 - April 27 , 2024
Headbones Gallery
The Drawers Gallery
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Provenance DIX: Julian Dix, Ursus Dix, Jan
Dix, Otto Dix with Cadillac Bob as Hessiah Nettles
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January 18
- March 9,
2024
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‘Provenance’ is a word often used in relation to fine
arts, referring to the labels often found on the back of
a painting that serve to document where and when the
work has been shown. The dictionary definition of
provenance is “place of origin”.
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The exhibitions opening on January 18 at Headbones
Gallery with a public reception from 4 -7 PM are
actually two solo exhibitions - different styles,
different mediums - that meet over the concept of
provenance.
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The exhibition titled DIX: Julian Dix, Ursus Dix,
Jan Dix and Otto Dix places the origin of the current
and very contemporary work by Julian Dix against the
backdrop of two generations who were also involved in
painting. Provenance becomes the back story to Julian
Dix’s paintings through examples of his father’s,
uncle’s and grandfather’s work. Ranging from still life
paintings where the sensitivity to composition and tone
brings the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi to mind, to
the super realistic elements of more surreal imagery, to
an abstract-pop styling that leaves the interpretation
of what we are seeing open for discussion - Julian Dix
upends the apple cart. Even as his still life paintings
begin to wobble and dissolve and his surreal works link
into universal dreams that seem hauntingly familiar,
Julian Dix doesn’t let his masterful hand relax. As a
result, the paintings are impressive and engender
respect at both the flawless handling of his medium and
the psychological implications of the subject matter.
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And as to the generational provenance? Julian Dix’s
father, Ursus Dix, was with the National Gallery of
Canada as their principal art restorer and an artist in
his own right. His uncle Jan Dix was a a goldsmith,
silversmith and sculptor. Julian Dix’s grandfather was
Otto Dix, the German painter whose paintings reflected
his shock and disgust at the brutality of both world
wars. Headbones Gallery will be including works by
Ursus, Jan and Otto Dix as provenance that ekes through
the generations to the current paintings fresh from the
palette of Julian Dix.
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At closer range, the provenance of the works by
Cadillac Bob, who for this exhibition is returning to
his art name, Hessiah Nettles, is routed right here in
the Okanagan performer’s visual saga of a life immersed
in music. With his focus on rockabilly (derived from
country music and rhythm and blues), Cadillac Bob is an
adept guitar player who has brushed shoulders and played
riffs with many of the great names of our time. He has
stories of Mississippi Fred Mc Dowell, Johnny Shines, BB
King, John Lee Hooker and Howling Wolf that give
glimpses into the energy that was present in such clubs
of the seventies as the Vancouver Cellar Club. What may
come as a surprise to many who have heard Cadillac Bob
on stage is that he went from two years at The Kootenay
School of Art studying commercial art, 1966-68, to the
Vancouver School of Art in 1969 where he became a
competent printmaker producing a series of lithographs.
Headbones Gallery is also bringing to light his
photographs, chosen from an extensive archive, that
capture inside and privileged glimpses of the
charismatic lives of musicians behind the scenes as well
as in the limelight. Add to this provenance a spell of
working as an animator with Gary Larsen (Far Side) and a
diverse collection of his commercial art output.
Cadillac Bob AKA Hessiah Nettles may even augment the
visuals with a musical interlude.
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