Guy Dill
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.
1990s American Post-Modern Guy Dill
Wood
1990s American Post-Modern Guy Dill
Cut Steel
1990s American Modern Guy Dill
Paper
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Guy Dill
Marble, Stainless Steel, Chrome
1980s American Modern Vintage Guy Dill
Paper
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Guy Dill
Copper, Steel
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Guy Dill
Steel
1980s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Guy Dill
Marble, Brass
20th Century Mid-Century Modern Guy Dill
Bronze
1970s American Vintage Guy Dill
Stainless Steel
Late 20th Century Italian Post-Modern Guy Dill
Bronze
1940s American Vintage Guy Dill
Paper
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Guy Dill
Concrete, Iron
Mid-20th Century American Brutalist Guy Dill
Steel
Mid-20th Century Canadian Mid-Century Modern Guy Dill
Ebony
Late 20th Century American Guy Dill
Late 20th Century American Guy Dill
