Guy Dill
Venice Delicate

About the Item

Born in California in 1946, Guy Dill graduated from the Chouinard Institute of Art, Los Angeles, CA with BFA Honors. Today he is one of the renowned contemporary masters of American abstract sculpture, whose works are collected and exhibited extensively around the world. Both his bronze and marble sculptures, while not figurative, often suggest the lines, curves, and lithe swoop of bodies and movement itself. Dill’s sculptures range in size from smaller works for indoors to larger works for outdoors or larger interior spaces. His works are included in many important museum, public and private collections, including: the Museum of Modern Art, NYC; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC; Whitney Museum of Art, NYC and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Creator:
Guy Dill (1946, American)
Dimensions:
Height: 78 in (198.12 cm)Width: 31 in (78.74 cm)Depth: 24 in (60.96 cm)
Medium:
Bronze
Period:
2010-
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Park City, UT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU483312643882
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Guy Dill

From sneaking into art classes to setting up a studio in an abandoned pier, Guy Dill’s journey toward becoming a celebrated contemporary American sculptor is anything but conventional.

Dill’s first love was the sea. Intending to travel the world by boat, the Malibu, California native began a career working for the U.S. Coast Guard during the Vietnam war. In his time off, he visited his brother, Laddie John Dill, who was attending the renowned Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and unofficially joined his life drawing classes after an instructor pressed him to bring a sketchpad. Dill enjoyed the classes and eventually accumulated enough work to submit to Chouinard for application.

After graduating from Chouinard with a bachelor's degree in painting in 1967, Dill put down the brush but continued to draw. Attracted to the Venice Beach lifestyle, Dill set up a studio with some fellow artists in an abandoned space on the Pacific Ocean Park (POP) pier. Located a few miles south of the now-famous Santa Monica pier, the POP pier slowly deteriorated under Dill’s feet while he began his sculpting career.

During the late 1960s, Irving Blum’s influential Ferus Gallery was the epicenter of L.A.’s art scene. Blum discovered Dill’s sculptures and put him in a group show with other exciting new talent from the area. Artists such as Ed Ruscha and Roy Lichtenstein had begun to make their names at the gallery, and the exposure proved important for Dill. Today he works in cardboard, glass, bronze, wood and more, and his large-scale abstract sculptures are known all over the world.

In 1972, Dill was awarded the Theodoron Award from the Guggenheim Museum in New York and First Prize at the Chicago Institute of Art’s “American Show” in 1974. Additional accolades include the California Heritage Museum Artist’s Award, the Stars of Design Lifetime Achievement for Art Award from the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles and more.

Dill’s work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Guggenheim and the Stedelijk Museum.

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