Lesley Dill Art
American, b. 1950
Lesley Dill is an American artist working at the intersection of language and fine art. Exploring the power of words to cloak and reveal the psyche, Dill invests new meaning in the human form. Fluid metaphors, appropriated from the poetry and writings of Emily Dickinson, Salvador Espriu, Tom Sleigh, Franz Kafka, and Rainer Maria Rilke, connect the diverse media that Dill employs. Paper, wire, horsehair, photography, foil, bronze, and music comprise elements through which the artist conveys the complexities of communication. Dill challenges the viewer to confront our linguistic relationships as well as perceptions of language itself.
Born and raised in Maine, Dill received her Master of Arts from Smith College in 1974, and her Master of Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art in 1980. She soon emerged as a sculptor and multi-media artist. Her interest in language and allusions to strong feminine identity reflect her friendship with the late artist, Nancy Spero (1926 – 2009), who used text and depictions of the female form, often appropriated as classical goddesses, in her scroll paintings.
She has received a John Simon Guggenheim fellowship in addition to the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and Anonymous Was A Woman, among others. Dill conceived and directed an opera, Divide Light, based on the poems of Emily Dickinson that premiered in at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA in 2008. In April, 2018, the New Camerata Opera Company will perform Divide Light in New York City.
Dill’s artworks are in the collections of over fifty museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.to
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COPPER BIRD LITTLE "IN MEE THE FLAME"
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
copper, wire and organza on metal armature
"In Mee the Flame" - John Donne
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Metal, Copper, Wire
ONLY
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
LESLEY DILL
ONLY, 2004
bronze, paint, ink, wire, thread
58 x 19 x 14 in. 147.3 x 48.3 x 35.6 cm.
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Bronze, Wire
$100,000
SMALL POEM DRESS
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
LESLEY DILL
SMALL POEM DRESS, 1993
lithograph on Hindi newsprint
10 x 3 x 2 in. 25.4 x 7.6 x 5.1 cm.
edition of 10
image may be slightly different. Please request exact image if int...
Category
1990s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Newsprint, Lithograph
GOWN OF BLUEPRINT
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
hand-painted metal with oil paint on metal armature
text by Tom Sleigh: BLUEPRINT - 2007
I had a blueprint
of history
in my head —
it was a history of the martyrs
of love, the fool...
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Metal
A DIAGRAM OF RAPTURE
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
LESLEY DILL
A DIAGRAM OF RAPTURE, 2020
Hand-cut paper collage and ink on gampi asian paper
12 x 14 1/2 in. 30.5 x 36.8 cm.
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Ink, Rice Paper
Leave Me Ecstasy
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
Lesley Dill is an American contemporary artist. Her work, using a wide variety of media including sculpture, print, performance art, music, and others, explores the power of language...
Category
1990s Modern Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Lithograph, Etching
SILVER GOWN OF ASCENSION
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
The language featured on this work of art reads "highest moment of impulse... high collateral glory." John Milton
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Metal, Wire
WHITE HINGED POEM DRESS (#3)
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
This beautifully delicate mixed media print contains language from an Emily Dickinson poem.
Category
1990s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
WHITE HINGED POEM DRESS,
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
LESLEY DILL
WHITE HINGED POEM DRESS, 1994
patinated bronze
55 x 37 x 30 in. 139.7 x 94 x 76.2 cm.
Edition of 4
Category
1990s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Bronze
WHITE HINGED POEM DRESS (#3)
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
LESLEY DILL
WHITE HINGED POEM DRESS (#3), 1993
mixed media paper construction
Framed: 22 1/2 x 17 1/2 in
Edition of 20
signed, dated and numbered 12...
Category
1990s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Paper
"Listen (Dust is the Only Secret), " Mixed Media signed by Lesley Dill
By Lesley Dill
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Listen (Dust is the Only Secret)" is an original lithograph with nylon string by Lesley Dill. The artist signed the piece lower left. It depicts the silhouette of a man constructed ...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Nylon, Mixed Media, Lithograph
JUBILATION
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
2 color lithograph on gold abaca. Image of a skeleton surrounded by leaves and letters spelling JUBILATION
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Gold
CURTAIN CALL
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
This unique expressive work of art features an emotional figure centered in the foreground surrounded by gestured brushstrokes.
Category
1990s Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Monotype
Price Upon Request
WORDS INSIDE
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
The language on this suspended wooden sculpture reads "How ruthless are the gentle" Emily Dickinson
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Copper, Gold Leaf
Price Upon Request
WORD THROUGH
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
The language featured on this sculpture reads "I am a hesitation before birth, My Life is a hesitation before birth" - Franz Kafka
Category
1990s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Metal
Price Upon Request
WING
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
This work of art is a offset lithography print with letterpress printing and silkscreen with hand sewn threads. The language on the print reads "In it unsayable with a Phantom Lightn...
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Thread, Lithograph
Price Upon Request
WHITE DRESS
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
This expressive fabric sculpture features language that reads “How ruthless are the gentle—
How cruel are the kind—
God broke his contract to his Lamb
To qualify the Wind—“
-Emily Di...
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Fabric, Thread, Oil Crayon, Acrylic
Price Upon Request
Sounds of War
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
Lesley Dill is an American artist working at the intersection of language and fine art. Exploring the power of words to cloak and reveal the psyche, Dill invests new meaning in the h...
Category
Early 2000s Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Copper, Foil, Wire
Price Upon Request
Faith Faith Faith
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
Lesley Dill is an American artist working at the intersection of language and fine art. Exploring the power of words to cloak and reveal the psyche, Dill invests new meaning in the h...
Category
2010s Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Steel
Price Upon Request
Homage to Frida Kahlo (Red Frida)
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
The complete title of the work is "HOMAGE TO FRIDA KAHLO (RED FRIDA) "Exhilaration-is-within-There can be not Outer Wine So Royally intoxicate" E. Dickinson.
Lesley Dill is an Amer...
Category
Early 2000s Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Fabric, Cotton, Silk, Ink, Archival Paper
Price Upon Request
TALL CHAIR
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
The language surrounding the top of the tall chair reads "Private Hallucinatory World" -Tom Sleigh
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Copper, Wire
Price Upon Request
SOUNDS OF WAR
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
This cast copper sculpture is explosive with energy and movement, it tells a story of passion and excitement.
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Metal, Copper, Foil, Wire
Price Upon Request
POEM DRESS OF CIRCULATION
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
The Language of this work of art reads: "The Heart has narrow banks/ it measures like the Sea/ In mighty - unremitt- ing Bass/ And Blue Monotony/ Till Hurrican bisect/ And as itself ...
Category
1990s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Thread, Acrylic, Lithograph
Price Upon Request
ONLY
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
This large bronze sculpture is perfect for outdoors, over time can be sandblasted and repainted. The language on the ribbon at his feet reads "Dust is the only secret" - Emily Dickinson
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Bronze, Wire
Price Upon Request
LEST THE BLAZE TORCH MY HAND
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
This work of art is a screen print, relief, and collage with colored silver and gold leaf and thread on Sekishu Thick, Koso, French Black Hemptone, printed on Rives BFK. The language...
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Gold Leaf
Price Upon Request
GREY POEM SUIT
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
The work of art includes language that reads;
“The Thrill came slowly like a Boon for
Centuries delayed
Its fitness growing like the Flood
In sumptuous solitude --
The desolation onl...
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Fabric, Thread
Price Upon Request
BIG HEART GOWN
By Lesley Dill
Located in New York, NY
The language on this extravagant sculpture are two poems that read; "The heart asks pleasure first and then excuse from pain," Emily Dickinson & "Becoming ever more quiet constantly branching out into ever thinning air...
Category
2010s Contemporary Lesley Dill Art
Materials
Metal
Price Upon Request
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Lesley Dill art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Lesley Dill art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Lesley Dill in metal, paint, fabric and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Lesley Dill art, so small editions measuring 3 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Carole Feuerman, Casey Waterman, and Matt Smith. Lesley Dill art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,400 and tops out at $100,000, while the average work can sell for $27,500.