About Dickens 44

Born on the 44th day of 1944, Dickens 44 is an artist with international acclaim and a vision. He was born in northern California with art coursing through his blood. His father, David Bascom, was a renowned graphic designer, producing logos known today including the Purina Dog Chow checkerboard, the Jack Daniels label, and Skippy peanut butter, among others. Throughout his life, Dickens was exposed to the great masters of art and literature. His favorites were the surrealists. But even with all the outrageous art he was exposed to, his father wanted him to stay in the "normal" course and make money, not wanting his son to become a "starving artist". However, Dickens refused that path and rebelled, running off to North Beach in San Francisco and straight into the Beat Generation, where he found a new way of looking at life.

His first art exhibit was in the Haight Ashbury in the late 1960s. Timothy Leary and the like guided Dickens as he created many amazing artworks through the Haight and beyond. He was one of the first to create a "free-store": a place here people took things they no longer wanted and others could come to find new things. This was a radical concept to many, but soon became a model throughout the SF Bay Area.

Dickens continued making art throughout the 1970s but did not focus on sales. "From early on something told me that I was meant to create art to share with people, regardless if it is sold or given away." He could often be seen driving the "Decorated Car', a 1961 Ford Falcon completely glued with objects from top to bottom. One of the original art cars, this car was well known in the Bay Area and crowds gathered to see it whenever he parked. Around 1973 Dickens opened "The Unknown Museum" in Mill Valley, CA with other artists, complete with a board of trustees.

Disheartened by the onset of Punk culture, Dickens left the US for southeast Asia in the late 1970s, where he created many public works and did commercial projects for local businesses in the Philippines and Thailand. In 2004, after surviving devastating volcanoes and tsunamis, he decided to move back to the SF Bay Area with hopes of finding the remains of the culture he left behind in Marin County -- however, the generation of free love was completely gone. Disillusioned, he left again to explore central America and the Caribbean to see if he could reclaim his passion and inspiration to create more unique art.

In 2006 Dickens made a stop on a small island in Panama where he instantly felt at home. He stayed for nine years, making art daily from recycled objects and enjoying the tropical atmosphere. In 2017 he moved back to Marin County for good and is currently creating some of his most evolved and fantastic works yet.

Dickens has a broad eclectic mix of what he calls "Recycledelic Fusion Art": paintings that incorporate mosaics of tile, stone and found objects. Many works have a burst of Asian influence from his more than two decades of living in the Philippines and Thailand. He is currently in the process of organizing, photographing and cataloging hundreds of pieces of his artwork from the past several decades. Please use the Contact form if you are interested in purchasing artwork.