By Jamie Zimchek
“Art is conversation,” says local artist Christon Anderson. You only need a minute with his works to see what he means. In one, a baseball player straddles the painting’s focal point, offset by a torn picture of Bert from Sesame Street, a news clipping, and a ripped snippet listing a noun’s uses. In another, the word “bacon” sprawls across the work, capped by a scrawl of black and punctuated by bits of comic strip, as well as the front of a National Geographic star map. These pieces might be cerebral and complex upon close inspection, a kind of conversation, but at first glance, they’re easily appreciated, colorful, and incredibly engaging- they speak.
Born and raised in Panama City, Anderson considers himself a contemporary artist, describing his work as abstracts with a ‘collage aspect.’ “I play with traditional stuff, I play with abstract, I just play,” he says. Anderson got his start at the kitchen table as a child, with pencil and paper. This connection to drawing, and by extension, realism, you can see in many of his works. Though he frequently incorporates pencil drawings, there are also printed papers, vintage fabrics, and oil stick marks mixed in with the spray paint and house paint he likes to use. Anyone familiar with Jean-Michel Basquiat will note hints of his oeuvre in Anderson’s, but the artist also cites other early influences, like Andy Warhol, and the painter Dean Mitchell, who was raised in nearby Quincy. While some in this coastal region might turn to the sea for ideas, Anderson’s work is less focused on location, though there’s the occasional link to local scenery in his unique interpretations of sand and sea. More often though, you’ll spot pop culture figures, like Twiggy, or the muscular frame of a pugilist, skillfully rendered against a visual sea of color or artfully composed collages.
“Art is beauty,” Anderson says. “It beautifies the world.” Despite the impact of first Hurricane Michael, and then the pandemic, he finds inspiration all around. “If you’re an artist, you see art – you visualize art – everywhere,” he explains. Suddenly, you realize that a chair can be more than just a chair, that it too can be something of beauty and voila, art has just become the conversation, or as Anderson puts it: art is all about “…the conversation you have with yourself while you create works of art. The conversation between your work and the audience,” but importantly: “the conversation your work provokes.”
To view more of Anderson’s work, or contact him with questions about commissions, find him on facebook @christonandersonart or on instagram @christonanderson.
