We recently connected with Christopher Noxon and have shared our conversation below.

Christopher, appreciate you joining us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

I started making paintings seriously after a big shift in my own life. I had recently moved out of LA to the small mountain town of Ojai and was dealing with the aftermath of a divorce and the sudden death of my eldest son.

Grieving is exhausting and infuriating – the feelings rage, the voices in your head run on repeat and everything seems to hit a dead end (he’s gone, she’s gone, they’re gone, you’ll be dead soon too…). While I had no formal training in art – I had worked as a journalist and author for 30-plus years but had been an obsessive sketcher and doodler – I holed up in a studio tucked in a grove of olive trees and dedicated myself full time to the practice of making pictures.

Art offered an escape from the doom loop, a place where I didn’t really know who was doing the work, where the best I could do was get out of the way and let whatever needed to come arrive. I painted to get lost, to lose myself, to connect with something bigger and beyond me.

I didn’t set out to “change my career” and certainly not “build a business,” though both those things gradually happened. Art was something I could do to feel less miserable, to reveal worlds beyond this one.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I began painting seriously in midlife, after raising kids and working as a journalist and author in Los Angeles. I make paintings, prints, murals, nesting dolls and other things, selling online and through retail and galleries across California.

I take inspiration from the landforms, colors and wildlife of nature and try to get out of the way of what the pictures want. My aim is to capture the energy and spirit of place, the simultaneous feeling of awe and humility, of togetherness and singularity, of personal insignificance and limitless possibility.

People tell me my work is joyful and makes them happy – this gives me deep satisfaction, since so much of my work was created while processing profound loss. I hope the pictures I make offer others a fresh look “behind the veil,” revealing the animating spirit that connects us all.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I have such mixed feelings about social media – it’s a time-suck and a garbage heap and a net-loss for the world and also it has connected me to friends and heroes and customers I never would have met otherwise. The fact is I owe my “art career,” such as it is, to Instagram – my first sales happened on direct message with strangers who saw my work, validated it and convinced me it had value in the world and I continue to make valuable connections via this annoying app.

The people I admire who use social media most effectively use it authentically, avoiding viral trends and calculated “strategies” and simply sharing their whole selves, consistently and curiously and with vulnerability. They treat it like a notebook, a sounding board, a journal that’s open to the world – they share process, rough drafts, crazy ideas, big wild ambitions, crippling fears – the point is to put it all out there and find your people. We’re all drowning in superficial posing and crass salesmanship online – the way to cut through the noise and gain a real following is to show up as your actual self. It’s about *connection* after all.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

For years art was a side hustle for me, a thing I did for joy and therapy and distraction. I filled notebooks with sketches and doodles and increasingly elaborate paintings and collages. I never dreamed I could make it my career.

The career bit happened gradually, one validation following the next, an online sale leading to a gallery connection leading to a retail opportunity leading to a big commission leading to a public art project. Along the way I haven’t had a big strategic plan but have tried to follow my gut, say yes to things that seemed fun and interesting and avoid opportunities that felt “wrong” – no NFTs, no crappy art outlets, no more art fairs. But along the way I’ve designed the cover of a phone book for “exposure,” made art for an album cover, created a mural on the back of a gas station-turned-gift shop and contributed images for an academic journal and community newsletter. The driving force, when I think about it, is to follow where the work takes me, to get in front of as many eyeballs as I can.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.christophernoxonart.com
• Instagram: @noxonart

Image Credits

Portrait by Matthew Cavenaugh, artwork photos by Christopher Noxon