Photo by Lee Vuitton.
Charles Dickson is a self-taught artist, sculptor, and designer whose public artwork spans decades and can be found throughout Southern California. Before joining us for the program “Is Car Culture the Ultimate Act of Community in Crenshaw?” with Destination Crenshaw, which commissioned Dickson to create the sculpture “Car Culture” as part of its 1.3-mile-long monument to Black L.A. history, art, and culture, the artist sat down in the green room with us to chat about his summer plans, working with plastic, and his 1993 Ford F-250.
How do you decompress?
I like process. Process gives me a chance to relax and imagine what can happen, what’s next.
What’s one of your favorite shows?
I’m an old Star Trek fan. I was watching Star Trek when it first showed up in the ’60s. I’m very much a futurist. I like the concept of humanity living together and not necessarily dealing with the money aspect of it, but how can we make ourselves better humans?
What’s your go-to comfort food?
I like that microwave popcorn—the movie-butter popcorn—I could just sit there and eat that all day. They say, oh, it’s not good for you, no nourishment, but it makes me happy.
Is there a car that’s special to you?
My 1993 F-250, which I’m in the process of customizing. A while back someone bumped into me—a front-end collision—and bit the bumper. I put another bumper on it without realizing that the bumper was as big as it was. It added another foot and a half to the front of the truck; it’s like a porch. I wanted to put something like fog lights on the truck, but I couldn’t put them on that gate, so I ended up building a whole apparatus under that system that added some real sculptural possibilities. And I did some other things with the undercarriage of the truck. It looks like a hot-rod truck. I have a liftgate on it because I lift heavy materials like marble, stone, and steel.
If you weren’t an artist, what path would you have taken?
I’ve always done what I’ve done. At one time, I did want to be an astronaut. But that whole process is extremely dangerous. Being off-planet without gravity? Not good.
You work with so many different materials. What’s one that’s surprised you?
I experimented with high-impact plastic, seeing how it was malleable. I ended up spending seven-and-a-half years on research and development. I came up with a technique called HISPUF: high-impact styrene plastic urethane foam core.
Summer is coming up. Do you have any plans?
I’m looking to go to South Africa in July. I have a chance to go to visit some African artists that had a show at Southern Guild. We actually invited them to my studio downtown. It was a breakthrough for me, the fact that they were doing some things I’ve wanted to do but didn’t see how they would fit into the general household of my community. So I had hesitations on developing that large object. But when I saw the work, I said, ‘Oh, yeah, I got it.’