Some people you meet genuinely radiate pure joy. Arizona-based artist and muralist Giovannie Dixon is one of those people.
Despite challenges being thrown at him since early childhood, Dixon has chosen joy in every situation.
“I just stay smiling,” said Dixon. “There’s only two options, and you get to choose. I’m in control of my own destiny, my own brain.”
This optimistic mindset coupled with a determination to find himself led Dixon to become a muralist whose work adorns many once-barren walls across Phoenix.
It’s also the basis of his personal artistic style. A lot of his newer art pieces involve the simple smiley face.
“No one’s doing smiley faces in this weird way that I’m doing it,” said Dixon. “In these trying times we are in right now, it’s definitely a perfect time to be painting way more smiley faces and I think I’ve put up four in the last two months.
“I’m really on the smiley face mission because I can’t do nothing but smile. I don’t know what else to do.”
Giovannie Dixon overcame hardships by finding joy in everything
Dixon grew up in Los Angeles with an absent father and a working single mother, both of whom came from Jamaica before Dixon was born to start a new life.
“I tell people I’m not home trained because I was barely home and when I was home, no one was there to train me,” said Dixon. “Shout out to my mama, though, she did the best she can. And shoutout to all immigrant parents that came out here to look for something better.”
Art hasn’t always been Dixon’s focus. He chased a professional football career believing, like many other young men, that pursing professional sports was the only way out.
He moved to Phoenix in 2008 to attend Arizona State University, after being recruited by its football team.
He didn’t stay a Sun Devil long, though. Dixon left ASU to attend Northern Arizona University because he couldn’t afford the tuition at ASU, and he wasn’t offered a sports scholarship.
Dixon attended NAU for three years, playing football for the Lumberjacks while majoring in criminal justice before deciding to drop out.
From there, he bounced around, from L.A. to Denver to Seattle and even to Germany, before returning to Phoenix in 2017 where, at age 27, Dixon found himself questioning what his purpose in life was.
“Twenty-seven was that magic number where I was like, ‘What am I trying to do?’ Because I felt like I had so much purpose when it was football, it was easy, it was there. Like, this is how you do it and you follow that path,” said Dixon. “And when I fell off of it, it was kind of like I’m fending for myself and having to figure this out as an adult.”
Dixon recalls several instances where he dipped his toes into various art forms but never pursued any of them. His earliest artistic endeavor was learning to DJ at age 13 because his older brother was doing it.
“At 13, I learned how to spin on turntables, so vinyl, so I know how to actually scratch and mix on vinyl, because my brother was into music. And then I rapped because he was rapping. I was just following him,” Dixon said.
So, what made Dixon think, at age 27, that art could be his purpose in life? A few things, really.
First, really listening to rap artists like Nipsey Hussle and Kendrick Lamar, actually hearing what they were talking about.
From there, he reflected on all of the odd jobs he picked up after college to stay afloat.
“I started to pay attention to what I’m good at, all those jobs that I did, what did I like the most? And one thing I realized is I was good with my hands,” Dixon said.
Giovannie Dixon went from construction worker to sought-after muralist
At the time of his epiphany, Dixon was working in construction, doing various jobs including painting. He quit that job and decided to pursue spray-paint art full time. He got rid of his apartment and scaled his life down to be able to live out of his car.
Feeling alone as a Black muralist in Arizona, Dixon went back to L.A. and frequented the blank wall at Venice Beach that was legal to paint on.
“It’s an iconic space and I would just park my car in that area, go to a wall, spray paint all day, go back to my car, go to sleep and wake up and do it again the next day,” Dixon said.
Dixon continued to bounce around, watching other artists, practicing on blank walls in whatever city he found himself in. While he was working with other artists in Denver, he was asked by the Shining Light Foundation to return to Phoenix to paint a Black Lives Matter mural in 2022.
“I wondered why they asked me to come, and I realized, oh, I’m the only Black guy that paints murals out here,” Dixon said. “But that stuck with me, and I realized that I was the Black person I was looking for.”
And he’s lived in Arizona ever since.
“Being not from here, I’m always trying to move lightly, respectfully. I want to respect this space, but I also do feel like I was reborn here,” said Dixon. “When I was 27 and found art, that was my rebirth, and I found art here. This is the new me, this place has created this person.”
Giovannie Dixon will always be your hype man, even if he loses a job
While many people are obsessed with grinding to get ahead in life, Dixon has a different view.
“The idea of grinding, I don’t want to do any of that,” said Dixon. “I just want to enjoy my life.”
So Dixon took all of 2024 off.
“I was living for free last year at Moontower (apartments on Third Street in downtown Phoenix),” Dixon said. “Moontower had an arts program where they had a few artists come in and we lived there for free in an arts residency program and then we hosted events.”
He’s happy to teach others the skills he has honed.
“I’ll teach you any of the skills I got,” Dixon said. “I’m not tripping because you’re not me. I don’t care what you do, we could do everything exactly the same but we’re two different people. And, if you’re better for an opportunity, then go ahead and do it. It’s not for me, then.
“I’m still gonna cheer them on, hype them up. It doesn’t bother me.”
People in the Phoenix arts community who know Dixon believe he’s a tremendous example of what’s possible with talent, drive and self-reflection.
Kathi Williams, co-owner of Onyx, the first Black-owned art gallery in downtown Phoenix, is very involved in the community. She said Dixon is “a vibrant young personality who is sharing that energy across the downtown area with beautiful art and music.
“He’s an interesting person to speak with, having an actively engaged and multifaceted identity as an artist. Gio is a serious, mindful creative who has been diligently learning the business of art in the Phoenix marketplace while producing murals that are fun, lighthearted and uplifting,” Williams said.
“He’s made an indelible contribution to the artistic landscape.”
Looking to the future: bigger murals and mural festivals
Dixon has accomplished a lot in his 30-something years on this planet. And he’s looking to do more.
“I’d love to get bigger works; I’d love to do like a high-rise piece. I would love to get work like that just because it’s a new challenge. And it’s such a dope scale. You don’t get to paint at that scale often,” said Dixon.
And while Dixon has created his niche in mural art, he stays curious about other visual art forms and is currently considering taking up sculpture.
“I’m not just a dope mural artist; this is just one thing I can do. I have a tagline that I don’t really put out too much but it’s ‘You create you.’ You have the opportunity to create your lifestyle and to tell your story,” said Dixon.
“So, go after what you want to go after, dream big, chase those dreams, keep doing your thing and stop working for somebody else.”
Where to see Giovannie Dixon’s murals in Phoenix
If you ask Dixon how many murals he has scattered throughout metro Phoenix, he’ll chuckle before throwing out a random number.
“I’m gonna stay modest and say at least 20. That’s a lot of peeing on walls,” Dixon said through laughter. “That’s what I call it because it’s literally me marking my territory. I feel like a dog, and I just mark my territory every time I paint another wall.”
Here’s where you can see some of Dixon’s art around metro Phoenix:
Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor Portraits: 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix.
Goddess: 1145 E. Washington St., Phoenix.
Black History Matters; Doctors: 599-511 S. Second St., Phoenix.
Black History Matters; Olympic Gold Medalists: 599-511 S. Second St., Phoenix.
Black History Matters; Churchill Community Church Portraits: 924 N. First St., Phoenix.
I Am Black History; Writers: 700-720 S. Seventh Ave., Phoenix.
OVERly Happy: 601-685 E. Garfield St., Phoenix.
NCAA Legacy Project; Eastlake Allstars: 1549 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix.
To see Dixon’s work, use the interactive mural map on his website, justcreatedit.com.
Meredith G. White covers entertainment, art and culture for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She writes the latest news about video games, television and best things to do in metro Phoenix.
