Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 4

Emile Dillon
White Castle II

2019

About the Item

After a long, successful career with the Eastman Kodak Company as a photojournalist and editorial photographer, Emile Dillon returned to painting in 1998. As a photographer he traveled the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe. While he’d chosen the camera for his profession, he’d grown up with oil on canvas. His grandfather was the Harlem Renaissance painter Frank Joseph Dillon and a favorite uncle was the Latin American artist Felix Vargas. Dillon’s years behind the camera and days in Soho galleries inspired him to pursue Photorealism as a style. But instead of the landscape of the exotic which he’d experienced in his Kodak travels, he was fascinated by the humble diners, motels, and vintage signs which were vanishing from American towns and cities. To perfect his craft, he studied at the School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League in New York. In an article on his work in the July 2019 issue of American Art Collector magazine, Dillon comments on his subject matter. “Somebody’s got to save these things…These places may not exist anymore in the next 100 years.” Dillon’s favorite painting in this exhibition is Dunkin Donuts. When he drove up to the location that inspired this painting, he was struck by the ridiculous giant coffee cup bearing the famous pink and orange logo, and the comparatively subtle competing franchise Subway beside it. White Castle II, is from an ongoing series of paintings celebrating the country’s first fast-food chain, established in 1921. Famous for the small square hamburgers which were initially priced at 5 cents, today the surviving vintage locations are revered as textbook examples of industrial Art Deco with their white enamel-glazed brick exteriors and interiors of enameled steel. In paintings of locales in Florida where he lives, Dillon delights in the refined palette and elegance of Art Deco in State Theater and Avalon, a portrait of the classic 1941 hotel on Ocean Drive in South Beach, Miami. For the past couple of years Dillon has focused on vintage popular culture in SoCal and Las Vegas. Casa Escobar in Santa Monica has been a local icon since it opened in 1967. Beverly Cinema, built in the 1920s has long been a well-loved repertory revival theater for modern and classic film. Emile Dillon’s work is in numerous private collections and that of the American Historical Museum in Jersey City, and the New Public Library in Newark, New Jersey. This is his second one-person exhibition with Skidmore Contemporary Art.
  • Creator:
    Emile Dillon (American)
  • Creation Year:
    2019
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 31.5 in (80.01 cm)Width: 41.5 in (105.41 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Fairfield, CT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU183212544152

More From This Seller

View All
Blue Car in Havana
Located in Fairfield, CT
After a long, successful career with the Eastman Kodak Company as a photojournalist and editorial photographer, Emile Dillon returned to painting in 1998. As a photographer he traveled the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe. While he’d chosen the camera for his profession, he’d grown up with oil on canvas. His grandfather was the Harlem Renaissance painter Frank Joseph Dillon and a favorite uncle was the Latin American artist Felix Vargas. Dillon’s years behind the camera and days in Soho galleries inspired him to pursue Photorealism as a style. But instead of the landscape of the exotic which he’d experienced in his Kodak travels, he was fascinated by the humble diners, motels, and vintage signs which were vanishing from American towns and cities. To perfect his craft, he studied at the School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League in New York. In an article on his work in the July 2019 issue of American Art Collector magazine, Dillon comments on his subject matter. “Somebody’s got to save these things…These places may not exist anymore in the next 100 years.” Dillon’s favorite painting in this exhibition is Dunkin Donuts...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

The Brooklyn Diner
Located in Fairfield, CT
After a long, successful career with the Eastman Kodak Company as a photojournalist and editorial photographer, Emile Dillon returned to painting in 1998. As a photographer he traveled the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe. While he’d chosen the camera for his profession, he’d grown up with oil on canvas. His grandfather was the Harlem Renaissance painter Frank Joseph Dillon and a favorite uncle was the Latin American artist Felix Vargas. Dillon’s years behind the camera and days in Soho galleries inspired him to pursue Photorealism as a style. But instead of the landscape of the exotic which he’d experienced in his Kodak travels, he was fascinated by the humble diners, motels, and vintage signs which were vanishing from American towns and cities. To perfect his craft, he studied at the School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League in New York. In an article on his work in the July 2019 issue of American Art Collector magazine, Dillon comments on his subject matter. “Somebody’s got to save these things…These places may not exist anymore in the next 100 years.” Dillon’s favorite painting in this exhibition is Dunkin Donuts...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Still Ten Cents
Located in Fairfield, CT
After a long, successful career with the Eastman Kodak Company as a photojournalist and editorial photographer, Emile Dillon returned to painting in 1998. As a photographer he traveled the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe. While he’d chosen the camera for his profession, he’d grown up with oil on canvas. His grandfather was the Harlem Renaissance painter Frank Joseph Dillon and a favorite uncle was the Latin American artist Felix Vargas. Dillon’s years behind the camera and days in Soho galleries inspired him to pursue Photorealism as a style. But instead of the landscape of the exotic which he’d experienced in his Kodak travels, he was fascinated by the humble diners, motels, and vintage signs which were vanishing from American towns and cities. To perfect his craft, he studied at the School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League in New York. In an article on his work in the July 2019 issue of American Art Collector magazine, Dillon comments on his subject matter. “Somebody’s got to save these things…These places may not exist anymore in the next 100 years.” Dillon’s favorite painting in this exhibition is Dunkin Donuts...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Kodak Flash Six-20
By Christopher Stott
Located in Fairfield, CT
Chris Stott is part of a new generation of representational painters pushing the genre forward in fantastic ways. At first glance, Stott’s paintings are elegantly refined compositio...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique Trophy & Three Books
By Christopher Stott
Located in Fairfield, CT
Chris Stott is part of a new generation of representational painters pushing the genre forward in fantastic ways. At first glance, Stott’s paintings are elegantly refined compositio...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Home Sweet Home 2
Located in Fairfield, CT
These small works HOME SWEET HOME are painted on vintage wallpaper in oil and acrylic. ARTIST STATEMENT: My work delicately renders familiar domestic comforts that we use to feel se...
Category

2010s Realist Still-life Paintings

Materials

Oil, Acrylic

You May Also Like

Just Another Tuesday - 30"x60", Dress Painting, Beige Grey, Texture, Still Life
By Andrea Stajan-Ferkul
Located in Mississauga, Ontario
This dress painting features an interplay of paint and lace textile creating dimension and movement. A black velvet waistband adds contrast to the tone on tone neutrals, with subtle ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Fabric, Textile, Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic

Versailles interiors. Acrylic on Canvas Painting
By Manuel Santelices
Located in Miami Beach, FL
A new series inspired by architecture, décor and stylish personalities of the world of interior design. The worlds of fashion, society and pop culture are captured in the illustrati...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Interior Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Still Life Flower Painting Art Hand Textured Giclee on Canvas 45x45" Radiance
By Irena Orlov
Located in Sherman Oaks, CA
Still Life Flower Painting Art Hand Textured Giclee on Canvas 45x45" Radiance State-of-the-art HAND EMBELLISHED ∽ MUSEUM QUALITY ∽ DISPLAY READY Giclee Reproduction Each limited edi...
Category

2010s Contemporary Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Varnish, Archival Ink, Acrylic, Digital, Inkjet, Giclée

"Harbor View" fresh oysters and fish on top of a table overlooking the sea
By Anne Harney
Located in Edgartown, MA
“Never taking anything for granted, I am so grateful to be able to paint every day.” Anne Harney is a representational painter beginning her work from observation and concluding wit...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic

"New England Coastal" summer kitchen table with watermelon overlooking ocean
By Anne Harney
Located in Edgartown, MA
“Never taking anything for granted, I am so grateful to be able to paint every day.” Anne Harney is a representational painter beginning her work from observation and concluding wit...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic

Limon
By Lynette Cook
Located in Burlingame, CA
'Limon' depicts the sun lit facade of a classic California building with terra-cotta roof tiles and at the sign for Limon restaurant, a well known spot in Burlingame and the clear bl...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Recently Viewed

View All