Dion Salvador Lloyd is a self-taught artist and, coming from an artistic family, was surrounded by art from an early age, hence his middle name. As well as his creative passion for music, he found self-expression through painting. On failing ‘O’ level art, a 14 year sabbatical ensued, after which time he resumed painting, with a fresh outlook and new ideas.

During his sabbatical Dion found himself sitting on a beach in Turkey contemplating. A few months earlier he had lost all he owned in a fire and was now disillusioned by his career in catering. He sat looking out over the sea, with a burning homesickness inside; he felt he had nowhere to go and no home to return to. That day he made a promise to himself that when he found a home and place to settle that he would paint, feeling that there was something inside him that needed to be explored and expressed through that medium.

With his dad a sculptor Dion was always interested in the process of creating art. Initially entering into painting as a hobby he hoped that one day he would become good enough to be shown alongside his fathers work at a regular pitch in Green Park, London. When he finally realised this goal and set his work up alongside others he was overwhelmed when he sold his first painting on his first day. From there on Dion set up his own regular pitch at Green Park and, after working in restaurants during the week, would travel there every weekend to exhibit and sell his work. This was no comfortable gallery environment where people would talk in hushed whispers, the work is shown on stands erected on the pavement and the audience is the general public walking by. Without the inhibitions of a formalised gallery space the audience are free to pass comment upon what they see before them, both positive and negative views are shared with equal frankness. This would be rough terrain for any artist, every weekend – exposed to the natural elements and the passing critics, yet in this environment Dion’s work flourished. He became ever more focussed and disciplined, responding directly to the challenges offered to him. From this his work evolved rapidly, as did his resolve and belief in his own work and ability.

Dion has recently given himself over to working full-time as an artist and is relishing the freedom and expressiveness that goes alongside it. He is refreshingly unpretentious about what he does and has no illusions about himself or his art. His style is developing through determination and discipline, learning and practice, and feels there is always room for improvement.

Dion paints skyscapes which are, by turns, warm and engaging, mean and foreboding. They betray his admiration for the likes of Turner and Dali. But he is truly in his element when surrounded by nature, which is evident from his paintings that reflect his fascination with the sky. They are not demanding or abrasive in any way, but instead have a feeling of infinity about them. His approach is more suggestive than descriptive, allowing the viewer to bring their own interpretation to each piece.

He is inspired by almost everything around him; living by the sea, film, music, books, exhibitions – the list could go on forever, but if one were to put it in the most general terms Dion is inspired by life, nature and the human condition. Specifically the artists he cites as inspirations are Tom Keating, Turner, Rothko and Rembrandt.

Since his early childhood he has been entranced by anything to do with nature, both being within it and discovering more about how the natural world works. He has hundreds of hours of video footage covering every aspect of nature from the life at the bottom of the oceans to weather systems and the solar system. Music also plays a central role in his work and Dion never paints without an accompanying soundtrack to lift and move him across the canvas; his favourite musical artists including The Chameleons, Talk Talk, The The, Nick Cave, Pink Floyd……. the list is endless!
When you ask Lloyd what his intentions are with his work his answer is “I want to make work that people can fall into.” He believes that his purpose in life is to leave something behind; something that is good and beautiful. He works in an innocent, untrained and blatantly honest way with his final works being refreshingly simple, straight forward and breathtakingly beautiful. His own celebration of the beauty around us serves to remind us all to look up and beyond ourselves.

Dion’s palette is in fact a piece of laminated Formica that he much prefers to a traditional palette as it provides a large working area on which to mix his own oil colours. Once the colour is found he begins to play with it on the canvas, using whatever tools spring to hand – brushes, sponges, cloths, palette knife or even his fingers. The colour is taken, pushed and manipulated, until it begins to work its magic and take form.

A memory of the way the clouds were one day or the colour of the sky is then revisited and explored upon the surface of the canvas or, in his more contemporary works, it is merely the colours themselves that become the subjects – melding and fusing until he finds a harmony and balance within them.

Primarily all of Dion’s paintings are about space and openness, simplicity of shape, colour and form, his intentions to not so much depict a reality so much as a dream space for the imagination.

Dion enters the studio as and when the urge takes him, some days this may mean 8am and another day it may mean 8pm; there is no structure here, more a willingness to engage with the work and a faith that the desire to paint will come in its own time.

Because Dion only works when the need and desire arises, there is no typical day as such, he believes the spontaneous way in which he approaches his work in turn keeps the work open and free. Generally however Dion works best at night, while the rest of the world is sleeping, phones are silenced and distractions are gone. It is then that he finds he is best able to focus and give himself over to his work.

The first job is always to choose the music that will accompany him while he works, from there on he enjoys as open a forum as possible. Working on different size canvases simultaneously means that he is always busy, enjoying having a choice of canvas to work on in any given moment. He travels between them, staying with one until he reaches a natural point of rest within the work. The studio is the playground and is only approached when there is a willingness to play, once in a flow Dion follows it through until it runs its natural course, this can be a matter of hours or days.