Press
Laddie John Dill lets his viewers see barren vistas from an airplane
By Rick Deragon
The Sunday Herald
The exhibition of Laddie John Dill’s wall constructions called “Aerial Landscapes” at the Cristopher Grimes Gallery, Carmel, presents thick “painting-like” rectangular pieces of rough cement and smooth, irregularly shaped glass.
The colors on the grainy, topographical surfaces end toward rich earth tones and somber reds and oranges. Patterns, placement of shapes, and contrasting textures strongly resemble barren vistas seen from an airplane.
To understand and appreciate the Los Angeles based artist’s recent work, it might be useful to consider the artistic imperatives that prompted his approach.
Identities
By the late 1960’s, contemporary painting had assumed a number of stylistic identities. Each new step was another move in an adventurous exploration of painting’s possibilities. And each step owed much to the previous step as painters absorbed or reacted against what had been put forth already.
The artists referred to here based their thinking on early Modernist approaches: the liberated color of the Fauves; the dissection of form by the Cubists; the sublime organization of elements by the Russian constructivists; the art of the absurd of Dada; the automatic painting of some of the Surrealists; the use of found objects by Kurt Schwitters and other.
These post-World War II were decidedly not concerned with making attractive, pretty pictures. Rather, theirs was a dynamic assertion of the emotional and intellectual self to approximate the soul, question habitual experience, pass through the doors of perception.
‘Happenings’
In rapid succession, and in sometimes unharmonious co-existence, different sets of artistic concerns developed in Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Op Art, Neo-Constructivism, Photo-realism and Performance Art (the early “happenings” by Oldenburg, Warhol, Dine, and others).
Consider the formal extremes – the total involvement of the artist with paint and visual elements in Abstract Expressionism versus the elimination of all but essential visual elements in Minimalism, or the appropriation of actual everyday objects in Pop Art to the meticulous painting of photographs of everyday objects or scenes in Photorealism.
Eventually, some artists eliminated all formal means – canvas, paint, sculptural objects – and explored the idea of “event” as art. After all the radical forms painting assumed in the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, the artists removed the means altogether to create, with some theatrical flare, transitory events, multi-media performances, as art.
This was the scene into which Dill entered in the late ‘60s. He, a painter, concluded that painting was dead, played out.
Tubes of Neon
Dill’s career took off soon after when he developed sculptural works with sand, glass, and neon. Asked to exhibit at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York when just 27 years old, Dill began his period of installations. Thick sheets of plate glass were placed in rooms full of sand; the glass was subtly illuminated by tubes of neon which were buried at the bases of each sheet of glass.
The play of light across the sand granules and faces of glass was controlled and manipulated by altering the shapes and heights of the “dunes” with brooms. The works were ever-changing.
From this early focus on “experiencing” the installation, which changed from gallery to gallery in addition to changing during the exhibition, Dill sought a more permanent form for his interest in topography, light and texture.
He devised a method of “painting” with cement, incorporating smooth sheets of glass that contrast to the varied topography of the cement.
The alkaline properties of cement provide the basis for color. Colors are applied and kept wet by spraying; the longer a color remains wet, the whiter it oxidizes. Alkalies and limes in the Portland cement eventually dry and remain on the surface, when the color is right, Dill seals the surface to prevent further oxidation.
The new works, then, are the result of Dill exploring a range of materials and effects. Born of the freedom of the late ‘60s, the sand-floor installations combined an interest in finding new means and methods and the experiencing of art as an “event.”
The early sand-floor installations, though temporary, played with texture and light. Similar concerns for unusual materials to create textures and colors, and to suggest depth or space, exist in this new work, but the visual expression has been refined, solidified, made permanent.
Constants running through both formats are topography, landscape, and an exquisite arrangement of parts.
Presence
As objects, Dill’s wall constructions have an unquestionable presence. Thick and encrusted with varying textures, the works simulate the geological diversity seen from 20,000 feet.
Taken as aerial views of the earth, they possess a grandeur and awe-inspiring richness, like a first glimpse earthward from a plane as the cloud cover breaks.
Rippled mountain ranges rises out of pocked-marked desert floors, dried-out salt beds meander through sandy hills, lava oozes from volcanic wounds, forgotten seas wash unknown shores. Weather and tectonic movement have left their traces everywhere.
The viewer, in the realm of associations, takes on the non-starring roll of a speck, an inconsequential dot on the face of the earth.
But, the cement constructions also reveal a more dynamic human presence. Across several of Dill’s aerial landscapes can be seen a grid pattern of “worked earth,” as if some group dared to till fields, confront the geological magnitude around them.
No Boundaries
This earthly space is without country boundaries, devoid of politics. The work, in this light, is concerned with planetary vastness.
However, Dill’s cement and glass constructions do not rely on these associative responses.
Dill is a formalist – an artist primarily concerned with the construction and placement of non-narrative elements. How materials can be brought together is of great interest to the artist. The characteristics of glass and cement, the interplay of smooth and grainy surfaces, and the effect of color on these materials guides the artist.
Rhythms
Additional concerns are the rhythms created by repeating forms and the vitality of interacting planes. The formalist wants to compose elements so that a sublime balance is achieved, so that nothing can be added or removed without negatively affecting the work.
The encrustation of cement has the quality of rough stone; the terrain suggested by the textural variation is vast. One result is that the works seem cool, distant. The smooth glass and hard cement do not invite intimacy.
Dill’s considerable craftsmanship in melding these diverse materials into one work reveals no gesture, no sign of the artist’s hand. They might be huge cut stone slabs fitted together according to mineral color. They do not seem to aspire to a personal and intimate impression, but these complex works nevertheless engage us as a great panorama captures our attention.
The exhibition continues through Sept. 16.
Back to Press
Laddie John Dill lets his viewers see barren vistas from an airplane
By Rick Deragon
The Sunday Herald
The exhibition of Laddie John Dill’s wall constructions called “Aerial Landscapes” at the Cristopher Grimes Gallery, Carmel, presents thick “painting-like” rectangular pieces of rough cement and smooth, irregularly shaped glass.
The colors on the grainy, topographical surfaces end toward rich earth tones and somber reds and oranges. Patterns, placement of shapes, and contrasting textures strongly resemble barren vistas seen from an airplane.
To understand and appreciate the Los Angeles based artist’s recent work, it might be useful to consider the artistic imperatives that prompted his approach.
Identities
By the late 1960’s, contemporary painting had assumed a number of stylistic identities. Each new step was another move in an adventurous exploration of painting’s possibilities. And each step owed much to the previous step as painters absorbed or reacted against what had been put forth already.
The artists referred to here based their thinking on early Modernist approaches: the liberated color of the Fauves; the dissection of form by the Cubists; the sublime organization of elements by the Russian constructivists; the art of the absurd of Dada; the automatic painting of some of the Surrealists; the use of found objects by Kurt Schwitters and other.
These post-World War II were decidedly not concerned with making attractive, pretty pictures. Rather, theirs was a dynamic assertion of the emotional and intellectual self to approximate the soul, question habitual experience, pass through the doors of perception.
‘Happenings’
In rapid succession, and in sometimes unharmonious co-existence, different sets of artistic concerns developed in Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Op Art, Neo-Constructivism, Photo-realism and Performance Art (the early “happenings” by Oldenburg, Warhol, Dine, and others).
Consider the formal extremes – the total involvement of the artist with paint and visual elements in Abstract Expressionism versus the elimination of all but essential visual elements in Minimalism, or the appropriation of actual everyday objects in Pop Art to the meticulous painting of photographs of everyday objects or scenes in Photorealism.
Eventually, some artists eliminated all formal means – canvas, paint, sculptural objects – and explored the idea of “event” as art. After all the radical forms painting assumed in the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, the artists removed the means altogether to create, with some theatrical flare, transitory events, multi-media performances, as art.
This was the scene into which Dill entered in the late ‘60s. He, a painter, concluded that painting was dead, played out.
Tubes of Neon
Dill’s career took off soon after when he developed sculptural works with sand, glass, and neon. Asked to exhibit at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York when just 27 years old, Dill began his period of installations. Thick sheets of plate glass were placed in rooms full of sand; the glass was subtly illuminated by tubes of neon which were buried at the bases of each sheet of glass.
The play of light across the sand granules and faces of glass was controlled and manipulated by altering the shapes and heights of the “dunes” with brooms. The works were ever-changing.
From this early focus on “experiencing” the installation, which changed from gallery to gallery in addition to changing during the exhibition, Dill sought a more permanent form for his interest in topography, light and texture.
He devised a method of “painting” with cement, incorporating smooth sheets of glass that contrast to the varied topography of the cement.
The alkaline properties of cement provide the basis for color. Colors are applied and kept wet by spraying; the longer a color remains wet, the whiter it oxidizes. Alkalies and limes in the Portland cement eventually dry and remain on the surface, when the color is right, Dill seals the surface to prevent further oxidation.
The new works, then, are the result of Dill exploring a range of materials and effects. Born of the freedom of the late ‘60s, the sand-floor installations combined an interest in finding new means and methods and the experiencing of art as an “event.”
The early sand-floor installations, though temporary, played with texture and light. Similar concerns for unusual materials to create textures and colors, and to suggest depth or space, exist in this new work, but the visual expression has been refined, solidified, made permanent.
Constants running through both formats are topography, landscape, and an exquisite arrangement of parts.
Presence
As objects, Dill’s wall constructions have an unquestionable presence. Thick and encrusted with varying textures, the works simulate the geological diversity seen from 20,000 feet.
Taken as aerial views of the earth, they possess a grandeur and awe-inspiring richness, like a first glimpse earthward from a plane as the cloud cover breaks.
Rippled mountain ranges rises out of pocked-marked desert floors, dried-out salt beds meander through sandy hills, lava oozes from volcanic wounds, forgotten seas wash unknown shores. Weather and tectonic movement have left their traces everywhere.
The viewer, in the realm of associations, takes on the non-starring roll of a speck, an inconsequential dot on the face of the earth.
But, the cement constructions also reveal a more dynamic human presence. Across several of Dill’s aerial landscapes can be seen a grid pattern of “worked earth,” as if some group dared to till fields, confront the geological magnitude around them.
No Boundaries
This earthly space is without country boundaries, devoid of politics. The work, in this light, is concerned with planetary vastness.
However, Dill’s cement and glass constructions do not rely on these associative responses.
Dill is a formalist – an artist primarily concerned with the construction and placement of non-narrative elements. How materials can be brought together is of great interest to the artist. The characteristics of glass and cement, the interplay of smooth and grainy surfaces, and the effect of color on these materials guides the artist.
Rhythms
Additional concerns are the rhythms created by repeating forms and the vitality of interacting planes. The formalist wants to compose elements so that a sublime balance is achieved, so that nothing can be added or removed without negatively affecting the work.
The encrustation of cement has the quality of rough stone; the terrain suggested by the textural variation is vast. One result is that the works seem cool, distant. The smooth glass and hard cement do not invite intimacy.
Dill’s considerable craftsmanship in melding these diverse materials into one work reveals no gesture, no sign of the artist’s hand. They might be huge cut stone slabs fitted together according to mineral color. They do not seem to aspire to a personal and intimate impression, but these complex works nevertheless engage us as a great panorama captures our attention.
The exhibition continues through Sept. 16.
Back to Press