Press
Laddie John Dill’s creativity erupts in its use of natural elements
By Gene Harbrecht
The Orange County Register
Remember those elementary school science films that re-enacted the creation of Earth? There was always a deep-voiced narrator explaining the process as this blazing ball spewed molten lava to form the continents and the torrents of rain that followed creating the oceans.
It’s a recollection that’s likely to resurface when you view the cement and glass assemblages of Laddie John Dill’s exhibit at the Works Gallery South at Crystal Court, Costa Mesa.
The first pieces employ bright, firey colors and powerful, energetic composition. Step farther into the gallery and the different works contain tones more muted in greens and beiges and blacks, still dramatic but suggesting evolution and settling.
Red iron oxide and sulfur create the vivid oranges and reds in the most dramatic pieces. Jade oxide mixes with polymers and bonding agents to make the greens. And Dill uses basalt, a derivative of volcanic rock, to produce grays and blacks.
This is a powerful and sensual collection of works that provoke deep emotions, almost as if the medium and technique are manipulated to that end. Nevertheless, Dill displays a keen understanding for the space, and for the clientele that frequent this mall gallery.
Obviously, he’s making a big impact here. The makeup of the show has actually changed significantly since its late January opening as numerous pieces have been sold and carted off by their new owners, and new pieces hung in there place.
Dill’s works are abstract and generally large, although there are a number of small, framed pieces in the show that are studies for larger assemblies. Some of the works are created on canvas; others are assembled on large panels, with pigmented, sculpted cement around the edges and large shapes of glass bonded to the middle of the surface. Those combinations evoke a lyrical, free-flowing feeling against a hard, technological edge.
The most dramatic of these pieces is composed of four panels in blacks and grays, each measuring 24 inches deep by 140 inches wide.
The simplest piece is in black and whites, its nearly minimalist composition conjuring images of the moon’s surface. (Dill said this piece was part of a set design for a play.)
But the pieces that generate the most emotion are his explosive red and orange assemblies. Dill says his inspiration for these was a trip through Utah; “I saw this very large, undefined landscape that had a profound effect on me. I wanted to try to capture that.”
What he tried to capture may not match what the viewer sees. But there is nothing lost in the translation.
Back to Press
Laddie John Dill’s creativity erupts in its use of natural elements
By Gene Harbrecht
The Orange County Register
Remember those elementary school science films that re-enacted the creation of Earth? There was always a deep-voiced narrator explaining the process as this blazing ball spewed molten lava to form the continents and the torrents of rain that followed creating the oceans.
It’s a recollection that’s likely to resurface when you view the cement and glass assemblages of Laddie John Dill’s exhibit at the Works Gallery South at Crystal Court, Costa Mesa.
The first pieces employ bright, firey colors and powerful, energetic composition. Step farther into the gallery and the different works contain tones more muted in greens and beiges and blacks, still dramatic but suggesting evolution and settling.
Red iron oxide and sulfur create the vivid oranges and reds in the most dramatic pieces. Jade oxide mixes with polymers and bonding agents to make the greens. And Dill uses basalt, a derivative of volcanic rock, to produce grays and blacks.
This is a powerful and sensual collection of works that provoke deep emotions, almost as if the medium and technique are manipulated to that end. Nevertheless, Dill displays a keen understanding for the space, and for the clientele that frequent this mall gallery.
Obviously, he’s making a big impact here. The makeup of the show has actually changed significantly since its late January opening as numerous pieces have been sold and carted off by their new owners, and new pieces hung in there place.
Dill’s works are abstract and generally large, although there are a number of small, framed pieces in the show that are studies for larger assemblies. Some of the works are created on canvas; others are assembled on large panels, with pigmented, sculpted cement around the edges and large shapes of glass bonded to the middle of the surface. Those combinations evoke a lyrical, free-flowing feeling against a hard, technological edge.
The most dramatic of these pieces is composed of four panels in blacks and grays, each measuring 24 inches deep by 140 inches wide.
The simplest piece is in black and whites, its nearly minimalist composition conjuring images of the moon’s surface. (Dill said this piece was part of a set design for a play.)
But the pieces that generate the most emotion are his explosive red and orange assemblies. Dill says his inspiration for these was a trip through Utah; “I saw this very large, undefined landscape that had a profound effect on me. I wanted to try to capture that.”
What he tried to capture may not match what the viewer sees. But there is nothing lost in the translation.
Back to Press