‘This Is It’ showcases work of Gallery 621 founder Pam Dixon

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

The fruits of Pam Dixon’s studio labor — some of them years in the making — are finally ready for viewing and will be officially unveiled to the public Saturday at a reception in the downtown gallery she founded.

The deceptively simple title of the exhibit, “This Is It,” belies the complexity of the show, which includes paintings, sculpture and mixed media. Dixon said she settled on the name because “that’s really what you get. You go in your studio, and you work, work, work, and somewhere along the line you say, ‘Finished!’ Then you drag it in the gallery and you say, ‘This is it.’”

In some cases, though, “this” isn’t “it.” Not exactly.

A painting titled “Green Horse,” for example, bears three dates, 1986, 1990 and 2011, reflecting Dixon’s painting, repainting — and re-repainting — the piece.

“For more artists, that’s kind of how it works,” she said. “You go into your space, and it’s a challenge. You have to meet that challenge. It’s very confrontational for an artist to do that. You wrestle around with it. It’s not easy. It’s very lonely.”

Eventually, she said, “you don’t even know what you’re looking at anymore. You get tired, and you put a closure on it by taking it out and exposing it. And that’s exposing it. That’s what (a gallery show) is, a kind of exposure.”

Dixon doesn’t use the term “exposure” in a light or comical way. “It’s really exposure, as if you don’t have your clothes on. That’s what it means. Because there it is.”

Dixon has a lot of experience with that kind of baring of the soul.

Her background included living “all over the place” — “Carmel and Pebble Beach, down to southern California, Malibu, the Keys, Long Island” — with her father, the well-known author Harry Vernor Dixon, growing up in studios and rubbing shoulders with artists of all kinds. “I had a lot of mentors early on. Top illustrators, even in fashion. Actors, access to backstage. Definitely all of this stuff influenced me tremendously.”

And it gave her perspective that few in Benicia’s — or any — art community can boast.

“(Artists) regurgitate things. The function of the artist is to make you aware of what’s going on. And a lot of people don’t like to be made aware,” she said. “The saying is that ‘beauty announces itself.’ It’s not something soft, it’s a blow. It can be very disturbing.”

All the same, Dixon likes to weave whimsy into her work. “Everything I do, no matter how serious I get, it’s always a cartoon of some kind. Just like my life,” she said with a laugh.

If You Go
An opening reception for “This Is It” will be held Saturday from 5-8 p.m. at Gallery 621, 621 First St. For more information, visit www.Gallery621.com.