On the warmest spring day of the year, London had that rare, electric ease. City workers spilled out of offices early for cheeky pints, house music drifted over from the park, and I arrived at Revue Studios in Soho to meet artist Eva Dixon, who was nearing the end of her residency there.
Born in semi-rural Australia and now based in London, Eva’s work blurs the lines between painting, sculpture, and craft, often grounded in the tools and textures of industrial labour. We spoke about process, place, and why accessible art is pretty sexy!
Let’s start at the beginning, how did you first get started in the art world? Was there a moment or experience that set you on this path?
I think the art world in many ways, is something you fall into. I had no idea universities even offered fine art degrees until I’d almost finished school. I think in my case, my best friend Connor mentioned Central Saint Martins to me when I was 10 and it was the only art school I’d ever heard of and therefore the only one I applied to!
You’ve described yourself as a ‘mad scientist’ of materials. What’s been your most unexpected or surprising discovery while experimenting in the studio?
Heat-shrink is one of my favourite materials, I also have enjoyed working with salt and wax. It’s incredible what materials you can cause to rust in a couple of days…
When you’re creating a new piece, how do you decide which materials belong? Do they guide the form, or do you start with a vision and then find the right elements to match it?
I rarely start with a vision, I prefer to rock up to the studio like I’m going to work. I wear the same shirts everyday (my pops Hunter water facility shirts). Uniform is very important to me being in ‘character’ as a worker rather than an artist I suppose. The work is a by-product, the process of learning and challenging myself guides most of my practice.
Having grown up in Australia and now living in London, do you feel that geography, or a sense of place, shapes your material choices or conceptual approach in any way?
100%, my family works in industry, my dad is a trained mechanic now working in mining, my Pa a truck driver and my cousins mostly work in mining or mechanics. The town I am from is semi-rural, I grew up around trucks, visiting open-cut mines, watching V8 races and in sheds and workshops. These are materials I am familiar with. Anything associated with labour has always fascinated me.
On a totally different note, if you weren’t an artist, what do you think your parallel-universe career would be? (No limits here, dream big!)
I would have been a mechanic or chippy (carpenter) – actually I’m thinking about doing a short course qualification at the moment. When I was little I really thought I’d be an aeronautical engineer (I have terrible maths skills…) or an inventor – when I was 13 I made a cardboard canoe I would paddle around my pool, I suppose I didn’t realise that could just be art.
Speaking of dreaming big… if you could manifest your ultimate exhibition anywhere in the world, no rules, where would it be, and what would it look like? Bonus points for wild locations or unexpected venues!
I think I’d really like to build a boat, in 2006 a large oil tanker crashed into the Newcastle harbour near my hometown in Australia (we also have a Newcastle) and I can remember my grandparents taking me to see it, I’d never seen anything so big before. There is something very disorientating about a boat out of water.
Back in the studio, when you’re deep in the creative zone, what’s your ideal studio soundtrack, do you lean towards music, podcasts, audiobooks, or books, anything you’d recommend?
I recently finished James Baldwin’s Another Country which is easily one of the best novels I’ve ever listened to, at the moment I’m working through Ursula K. Le Guin’s novellas, which are spectacular. I am big into pop music. At the moment I’m listening to a lot of Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii and Chappell Roan. A recent favourite has been Sophie Hunter.
And finally, what’s next? Are there any new materials, ideas, or projects on the horizon that you’re especially excited to explore?
I’d really like to learn to weld, that’s something that’s been on my mind of recent. I’m working on an edition with Particular Ideas that will be highly affordable (say 25-30 pounds) with no framing required which I’m very passionate about, accessible art is pretty sexy to me. I have 3-4 jobs at the moment and even now I still work one that’s minimum wage, the idea someone can spend 2 and a half hours working to afford an edition sounds pretty great to me.
You can learn more about Eva’s work via her website here and follow her journey on Instagram: @evadixon.png
