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Interview
September 2015 David Adix Interviewed by Margaret Suchland |
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David Adix
David Adix is a well-known Tucson artist working in sculpture, painting, collage and assemblage. His work is shown locally and on a national level. For over 20 years David has worked with found and recycled materials. He is particularly known for his “native figure” sculptures made from found materials held in place with bailing wire.
Margaret Suchland: David, I have enjoyed and admired your work for several years. You initially received a MFA in Theater Arts from The University of Arizona. How and when did you evolve into a studio artist? Has your experience in theater arts influenced your work?
David Adix: My background in theater has certainly played a significant part in my work as a visual artist. As an actor you build a character, what lies underneath the surface? What is the subtext? And so too with visual art there are layers, subtext and a deeper meaning, and then interpretation. But probably the most significant part for me is tapping into the creative impulse.... this creative energy has to come out, finding a voice, a vocabulary, expression... and ultimately understanding your path.... and purpose.
Margaret Suchland: David, I have enjoyed and admired your work for several years. You initially received a MFA in Theater Arts from The University of Arizona. How and when did you evolve into a studio artist? Has your experience in theater arts influenced your work?
David Adix: My background in theater has certainly played a significant part in my work as a visual artist. As an actor you build a character, what lies underneath the surface? What is the subtext? And so too with visual art there are layers, subtext and a deeper meaning, and then interpretation. But probably the most significant part for me is tapping into the creative impulse.... this creative energy has to come out, finding a voice, a vocabulary, expression... and ultimately understanding your path.... and purpose.
DAdix_Native Figure_
MSuchland: You are well known for your creative “Native Figure” series. When did this series begin and what influences this body of work?
DAdix: The prelude to the 'native figure' was my found angels of which I made thousands, these were simple constructions: a block of wood, metal arms and legs and wings sniped out of rusted tin and a can lid for a halo. I was shipping these off to gallery's and gift shops all over the country. These angels took their course, but from these the 'native figure' did emerge, I dropped the wings and the halo and began adding more stuff, beads, rusted nails, things I would find in the wash.... the sculptures in the early days were very crude and tribal... I continued to develop these adding more and more stuff, and then people, friends began giving me stuff: jewelry, watches, basically stuff from the junk drawer. I continued to make these larger and longer. I found I needed more and more material, mixed media; I began haunting the second-hand stores of which there are many in Tucson. In a way these sculptures sort of dictated what they wanted to become.... now 15 years later, I have developed an efficient process with creating a large volume of these sculptures @ 75 a year.
MSuchland: You’ve said that the most consistent element in your work is the salvation and use of recycled and found materials. What is it about the found object that appeals so strongly to you?
DAdix: I do get a thrill creating and constructing out of recycled and found materials. I suppose I choose this particular material because of the challenge of creating something out of what has been discarded. By getting all this stuff into a sculpture based on the human form, there is a second life and a renewal and poetry.
DAdix: The prelude to the 'native figure' was my found angels of which I made thousands, these were simple constructions: a block of wood, metal arms and legs and wings sniped out of rusted tin and a can lid for a halo. I was shipping these off to gallery's and gift shops all over the country. These angels took their course, but from these the 'native figure' did emerge, I dropped the wings and the halo and began adding more stuff, beads, rusted nails, things I would find in the wash.... the sculptures in the early days were very crude and tribal... I continued to develop these adding more and more stuff, and then people, friends began giving me stuff: jewelry, watches, basically stuff from the junk drawer. I continued to make these larger and longer. I found I needed more and more material, mixed media; I began haunting the second-hand stores of which there are many in Tucson. In a way these sculptures sort of dictated what they wanted to become.... now 15 years later, I have developed an efficient process with creating a large volume of these sculptures @ 75 a year.
MSuchland: You’ve said that the most consistent element in your work is the salvation and use of recycled and found materials. What is it about the found object that appeals so strongly to you?
DAdix: I do get a thrill creating and constructing out of recycled and found materials. I suppose I choose this particular material because of the challenge of creating something out of what has been discarded. By getting all this stuff into a sculpture based on the human form, there is a second life and a renewal and poetry.
MSuchland: What is your favorite part of the creative process?
DAdix. The 'creative process' has become a form of meditation. Long hours in my studio lend to long journeys and far away places and the freedom to think and be and discover. This is vital for that 'creative impulse'.
MSuchland: You work in several mediums – sculpture, painting, collage and assemblage. Do you have a favorite medium?
DAdix: I do like the breadth of working in sculpture and painting. Over the years I have also constructed many found object assemblages, but I am possessed when it comes to paper collage. I don't know where my inspiration and total absorption for paper collaging came from? This medium has certainly evolved for me over the years. I always have my paper radar up. Ripping, tearing, cutting and deconstruction, this medium is enchanting and challenging and forever expansive: shape, space, line, color, composition: I dwell in possibility.
DAdix. The 'creative process' has become a form of meditation. Long hours in my studio lend to long journeys and far away places and the freedom to think and be and discover. This is vital for that 'creative impulse'.
MSuchland: You work in several mediums – sculpture, painting, collage and assemblage. Do you have a favorite medium?
DAdix: I do like the breadth of working in sculpture and painting. Over the years I have also constructed many found object assemblages, but I am possessed when it comes to paper collage. I don't know where my inspiration and total absorption for paper collaging came from? This medium has certainly evolved for me over the years. I always have my paper radar up. Ripping, tearing, cutting and deconstruction, this medium is enchanting and challenging and forever expansive: shape, space, line, color, composition: I dwell in possibility.
DAdix_Cowboy Dreams_
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DAdix_Line V_
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DAdix_Random Acts of Color and Line 2
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DAdix_Crazy Eights_
MSuchland: Where do you most often find inspiration for your work? And does it vary depending on the medium you are working on?
DAdix: As a visual artist I have learned to train my eye in looking, observing, connecting and remembering. I tend to be inspired by every day occurrences, a simple drive to the market is always a visual feast: light, shadow, shape, volume, line, and space. All of this goes into a visceral filing in my mind and often I will draw a quick study of something that catches me off guard, something I have to remember. And then there's the absolute fascination in the juxtaposition of shapes in relation to space; a dumpster in a vacant lot, electric meters and box circuitry on the side of a house, the play of light of tree branches thrown onto an early morning wall, peoples shoes when walking...the list in numerous, but all of this plays into my ideas of my design composition and abstraction, particularly in my collage, assemblage, drawings and paintings.
MSuchland: You have mentioned the influence of Alberto Giacometti on your work. Would you elaborate on other artists and how they have inspired your work?
DAdix: The Italian Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti has certainly been instrumental in my own creations of my 'native figure', the distorted elongation of the torso, arms and legs, but I have found my own idea, and sculptural voice with the native figure and I continue to think outside the box with these in what materials could possibly be used? I continue to explore new shape and position and form.
Yes, I usually begin my day reading poetry and looking through my art books. To name a few, these are the artists that lift, transfix, and allow me to do what I do: the pastoral landscapes of Bruegel, the stoic portraits of Memling, the utterly profound quality of light in the paintings of Vermeer, the golden light of Albert Cuyp, the haunting landscapes of Pissarro, the sublime still life works of Morandi, the earth tones of Andrew Wyeth, Diebenkorn, DeKooning, Alfred Leslie, the collage of Motherwell, the elegant composition of Kurt Schwitters, Lee Bontecou and the disturbing constructions of Doris Salcedo......there are many more artists I look at and admire and ponder, but the list would not be complete if I didn't mention the poet, Emily Dickinson.
DAdix_Seated Thinker_
MSuchland: . What can we look forward to seeing artistically from you in the future?
DAdix: I continue to work in collage and assemblage and create figures out of mixed media...I recently have created a new body of work using coat hangers which are quite pliable and accommodating to sculptural form and have thought about doing a few sculptures on a grand format @ 10' tall. Perhaps the Buddha or a jack-in-the box…I have also been working on new larger scale collage works and will have a salon collage show at FEAST this October. I also have some ideas for large format abstract relief assemblage work that hang on a wall but where the viewer can literally enter and go inside the artwork?
MSuchland: How has your life in the Sonoran Desert impacted your work?
DAdix: There are always so many seen and unseen variables at work when you land in a place; placement... locale; location.... destination; destiny. What I initially came to the desert to do found a different path, which I let unfold and happen. Becoming a visual artist has been a natural occurrence, I followed what was/is inherent in me, I didn't fight it...I appreciate the freedom to be, and to be in that place in my studio every day. There is, however, an energy field here that brings in that creative mind and intellectual impulse, unlike any other place I have lived.... the light of the desert and the volume of space above has given me, all of us a portal into that creative life here. I am so grateful to be a part of this family.
MSuchland: What do you think would make life better for artists in Tucson and in our region?
DAdix: Maybe the more important question: What would make life better for all of us that live in Tucson? -- More money for education.... better salaries and benefits for our teachers... better public transportation... more money for assisted housing for low income families...a new state of the art performing arts complex down town...more money for community gardens....
DAdix: I continue to work in collage and assemblage and create figures out of mixed media...I recently have created a new body of work using coat hangers which are quite pliable and accommodating to sculptural form and have thought about doing a few sculptures on a grand format @ 10' tall. Perhaps the Buddha or a jack-in-the box…I have also been working on new larger scale collage works and will have a salon collage show at FEAST this October. I also have some ideas for large format abstract relief assemblage work that hang on a wall but where the viewer can literally enter and go inside the artwork?
MSuchland: How has your life in the Sonoran Desert impacted your work?
DAdix: There are always so many seen and unseen variables at work when you land in a place; placement... locale; location.... destination; destiny. What I initially came to the desert to do found a different path, which I let unfold and happen. Becoming a visual artist has been a natural occurrence, I followed what was/is inherent in me, I didn't fight it...I appreciate the freedom to be, and to be in that place in my studio every day. There is, however, an energy field here that brings in that creative mind and intellectual impulse, unlike any other place I have lived.... the light of the desert and the volume of space above has given me, all of us a portal into that creative life here. I am so grateful to be a part of this family.
MSuchland: What do you think would make life better for artists in Tucson and in our region?
DAdix: Maybe the more important question: What would make life better for all of us that live in Tucson? -- More money for education.... better salaries and benefits for our teachers... better public transportation... more money for assisted housing for low income families...a new state of the art performing arts complex down town...more money for community gardens....
DAdix_Diptych 2 - Circles_
MSuchland: . Thank you David for allowing us this interview. Do you have anything else you would like to say?
DAdix: When I was a kid growing up in the rocky mountains of Colorado I remember thinking when I was old enough I wanted to attend Annapolis Naval Academy...yah, right... At that time I never dreamed I would be doing what I am doing today. I am so grateful to the folk that have encouraged, guided and given me the fortitude to keep going...it takes a lot of courage and moxie to do this work because from day to day there are no guaranties, only your own vision and hard work...and to quote Churchill, to 'never, never, never give up'
A video of David working and discussing his work in his studio can be seen the Bio page of his website. www.davidadix.com.
DAdix: When I was a kid growing up in the rocky mountains of Colorado I remember thinking when I was old enough I wanted to attend Annapolis Naval Academy...yah, right... At that time I never dreamed I would be doing what I am doing today. I am so grateful to the folk that have encouraged, guided and given me the fortitude to keep going...it takes a lot of courage and moxie to do this work because from day to day there are no guaranties, only your own vision and hard work...and to quote Churchill, to 'never, never, never give up'
A video of David working and discussing his work in his studio can be seen the Bio page of his website. www.davidadix.com.
