2008
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.
On 1stDibs, find authentic Guy Dill sculptures, prints and more.
File Angel
By Guy Dill
Located in Boca Raton, FL
Guy Dill is an American sculptor noted for his monumental bronze and marble abstractions. He graduated with honors in 1970 from the Chouinard Institute of Art, Los Angeles, Californi...
Bronze
1763 #9
By Matt Devine
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Matt Devine is a self-taught sculptor working with steel, stainless steel, aluminum and bronze. Born and raised in New England, Devine moved to California in 1995, where he learned t...
Stainless Steel
Here We Go #2
By Matt Devine
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Matt Devine is a self-taught sculptor working with steel, stainless steel, aluminum and bronze. Born and raised in New England, Devine moved to California in 1995, where he learned t...
Metal
On Impact
By Matt Gil
Located in Napa, CA
California born and educated sculptor Matt Gil graduated from San Jose State University, and his work has been widely exhibited throughout California since 1977. His sophisticated, s...
Stainless Steel
Rapio A/P
By Damon Hyldreth
Located in Napa, CA
The sculptures of Damon Hyldreth appear both static and fluid, rigid and flexible, strong and smooth, effectively blurring the line between nature and structure. By crafting organic ...
Stainless Steel, Bronze
Outward Bound
By Matt Devine
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Matt Devine is a self-taught sculptor working with steel, stainless steel, aluminum and bronze. Born and raised in New England, Devine moved to California in 1995, where he learned t...
Stainless Steel
Tempest
By Gino Miles
Located in Boca Raton, FL
overall dimension 96 x 28 x 28 inches sculpture measures 80 x 28 x 28 inches and base is 16 x 16 x 16 inches
Bronze
Point Out
By Bill Barrett
Located in New York, NY
Barrett is a large scale and well known American sculptor. Point Out is a superb small scale maquette and it a great piece on many levels. These works have movement, delicacy and s...
Bronze
Nexus
By Jack Youngerman
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Abstract sculpture by American artist, Jack Youngerman (b.1926). Nexus, 1990. 24.5 inches. Aluminum, numbered 2/3. Signed and numbered on base. 1926 Born, St. Louis, Missouri; moved with family to Louisville, Kentucky in 1929 1943-44; 1946-47 Attended University of Missouri 1944-46 U.S. Navy, University of North Carolina 1947-49 Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris 1949-55 Lived and worked in Paris 1956 Returned to the United States; lived in New York City 1956-1995 1995-current Resides in Bridgehampton, New York ONE MAN EXHIBITIONS: 1951 Galerie Arnaud, Paris 1958 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York (1960, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1968) 1959 Museum of Modern Art, New York, "Sixteen Americans" 1962 Galerie Lawrence, Paris (also 1965) 1963 Galeria dell' Ariete, Milan Everett Ellen Gallery, Los Angeles, California The Phillips Collection, Washington, D. C. 1971 Pace Gallery, New York (also 1972, 1975) 1972 Portland Center for the Arts, Oregon Seattle Art Museum, Washington 1973 The Arts Club of Chicago, Illinois Galerie Denise Rene, Paris 1975 Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 1976 Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York 1981 Washburn Gallery...
Aluminum
Embattled
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Stephen Lee is a Korean-American sculptor based in Dallas, Texas. Born in South Korea and immigrating to the United States as a teenager, Lee draws from a dual set of cultural influe...
Steel
