John Dilg

John Dilg (born 1945) is an American painter based in the Midwest. He is known for idiosyncratic landscapes created within a pared-down visual vocabulary that draws on memory, imagination, vernacular artifacts, and folk-art and art historical sources.[1][2][3] Critics describe them as archetypal, dreamlike ruminations on place, nature and its fragility, the collective unconscious, and mystical storytelling.[4][5][6][7]

John Dilg, I Felt So Symbolic Yesterday (C.C.), oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2016.
John Dilg
Born1945 (age 75–76)
Evanston, Illinois, United States
NationalityAmerican
EducationRhode Island School of Design, Lalit Kala Akademi
Known forPainting
Spouse(s)Jan Weissmiller
AwardsNational Endowment for the Arts, Fulbright Grant

Dilg's work belongs to several public collections, including those of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago,[8] Figge Art Museum, Museu d'Art Contemporani Vicente Aguilera Cerni (Spain) and Arkansas Arts Center,[9] and has been reviewed in Art in America, The New York Times,[10] Hyperallergic, New Art Examiner,[11] The Boston Globe, and HuffPost.[12][13][14] Critic John Yau wrote that Dilg's landscapes "arise out of the collision of observation and memory, things seen and the history of painting remembered," and evoke an "otherworldly hush and reverence."[1] Curator Terri C. Smith wrote, "Dilg makes objects that are at once naïve and sophisticated, familiar and enigmatic. The tension in the paintings between known and unknown, fine art and found art along with their small scale encourages a very intimate, personal viewing experience."[6] Dilg has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Ragdale Foundation and Yaddo Foundation, and received a Fulbright Grant.[13] He was a professor in the School of Art and Art History at the University of Iowa for over four decades, before retiring as Professor Emeritus in 2017.[5][14] Dilg lives in Iowa City, and is married to Jan Weissmiller, poet and co-owner of Prairie Lights Books.[15][16]

Early life and career

Dilg was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1945 and spent his childhood in the Chicago-area with summers in rural Iowa.[17][13] He earned a BFA degree in painting and filmmaking at Rhode Island School of Design (1969) and studied at the Lalit Kala Akademi in India (1971–2) through a Fulbright Scholarship.[13] In 1973, during a Yaddo artist residency, he met artist and future mentor Byron Burford, who recruited him to teach at the University of Iowa.[18]

John Dilg, Hide, oil on canvas, 11" x 14", 2001.

Dilg's early career included solo exhibitions at Roy Boyd Gallery in Chicago (1978–83)[19] and group shows at the Smithsonian Institution, Butler Institute of American Art, Joslyn Art Museum, Indianapolis Museum of Art, and N.A.M.E. Gallery,[8] among others.[20][21][22][23] His earliest work consisted of large, gestural, Abstract Expressionist canvasses.[6] By the 1980s, his paintings featured more regular, dark lines separating abstract planes of color that engaged the picture edges; writers compared them to the work of Richard Diebenkorn and (despite their abstraction) to the quirkier Chicago Imagists.[17][23] In the late 1980s, Dilg began a decade-long shift toward more restrained flat surfaces and simpler, centralized compositions.[17][7] A solo exhibition at the Evanston Art Center (1996) marked his transition from purely formal concerns towards narrative and vaguely referential forms.[24] This work gradually led to greater opportunities and attention, including representation (Luise Ross Gallery) and group shows (e.g., Andrea Rosen Gallery, Sikkema Jenkins & Co. and Jeff Bailey Gallery) in New York City and elsewhere.[4][11][25][26][27]

Moving into the 2000s, Dilg was producing small, exactingly composed paintings of iconic, glyph-like forms that ranged from fully abstract shapes to barely recognizable animals and landscape elements, as in Hide (2001); New York Times critic Ken Johnson described them as exuding "a modest archetypal mystery."[4][26] This work increasingly referenced vernacular sources, reflecting Dilg's interests in the function of the souvenir as a carrier of recollected times, events and stories.[17][7][28]

Mature work and reception

By 2006, Dilg committed fully to a spare landscape motif that engages its subject less in the historical sense than as a trope to metaphorically record and convey his relationship with the land.[17][7] This work brings together diverse sources and precedents in a singular, personal vision: 19th-century chromolithography, Japanese woodcuts and Early Renaissance landscapes, folk or self-taught art, vintage postcards and game boards, thrift store paint-by-number waterfall paintings, handmade signs.[1][7][29][3] His interest in tourist, souvenir and folk-art sources stems from his desire to recover the immediacy, sense of wonder and discovery, and uncanniness of such imagery—qualities that are often trained out of professional artists.[6][30]

John Dilg, On Another Planet, oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 2012.

Dilg's carefully chosen and composed pictorial elements often tap into the primal power of archetypal subjects: waterfalls and gorges (e.g., On Another Planet, 2012), towering sequoia forests and evergreens, and formations like Yosemite's Half Dome that evoke the American West of 19th-century artists like Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran, as well as the Gothic, moonlit landscapes of German Romantics, such as Caspar David Friedrich.[6][31][3][32] He paints them with a flat, dry, scumbled application, seamlessly layering color gradations over charcoal-line drawings while allowing the canvas weave to show through in an almost pixelated fashion for added physical presence.[6][33][1] His technique often reveals a hint of underpainting, creating a halo-effect around his forms.[3][17] Dilg works with a subtly shifting, limited palette of celadon greens, pale blues, and sandy or greyed browns that has been described as evoking Midwest prairies, the veiled light created by misty Pacific Northwest rains, and deep geologic time.[6][7][34][35]

New York Times critic Roberta Smith termed Dilg's small-scaled paintings "cartoon-visionary landscapes."[10] Others characterize them as simultaneously spiritual and "quasi-mystical,"[5][2] enigmatic,[34][6] elegant and whimsical.[29][36][37] Boston Globe critic Cate McQuaid wrote that their "almost pictographic simplicity" and "incantatory energy" pulls viewers "into an intimate, low-key exchange, quiet and deeply felt,"[2] yet also suggests monumental forms and vast pictorial space.[1][3][30] Several reviewers note that in addition to a sense of deliberation and solitude (e.g., I Felt So Symbolic Yesterday (C.C.), 2016), humor often emerges in his work through a single, odd detail or element, as in Natural Wonder (2007) or Headdress (2011),[38] in which a dominant rock formation transforms, respectively, into an enormous torso or head.[39][36][37][35]

Writers John Yau and Steven Zevitas suggest that the late-career, national recognition Dilg has received was long overdue, with the delay a likely result of his (in Yau's words) residing in a "fly-over state."[1][5] In the 2000s, Dilg has had solo exhibitions at the Rhodes College (Memphis)[13] and galleries including Regina Rex and Luise Ross (2000–11) in New York,[40][41] Taymour Grahne (London/New York),[42] Steven Zevitas (Boston),[30][43] Devening Projects (Chicago),[44] Tory Folliard (Milwaukee), and Schmidt Contemporary Art (St. Louis),[45] among others.[12][46] He has upcoming exhibitions in fall 2019 at the Figge Art Museum and Steve Turner Gallery (Los Angeles).[47]

Additional professional activities

In addition to his teaching career at the University of Iowa, Dilg has been a visiting artist at more than forty institutions, including the University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Sarah Lawrence College, Stanford University, and Yale University.[14] He has also collaborated with the poets Marvin Bell, Lyn Hejinian, and Tomaz Salamun on letterpress broadsides, and with poet Timothy Donnelly, on the book Die neue Sicht der Dinge (2008).[48]

References
  1. Yau, John. "With an Eye to Our Common Future," Hyperallergic, December 18, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  2. McQuaid, Cate. "'This Land’ is small land," The Boston Globe, December 31, 2013, p. G3–4. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  3. Dobbins, Hamlett. "Sources in Another World," Catalog essay, Memphis, TN: Rhodes College, Clough-Hanson Gallery, 2012.
  4. Johnson, Ken. "Art Guide – Galleries: Soho," The New York Times, March 24, 2000. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  5. Zevitas, Steven. "You Had Me at Hello: 150 Contemporary Artworks That Altered My Consciousness - Part 1," New American Paintings, January 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  6. Smith, Terri C. "John Dilg and Karsten Krejcarek," Exhibition essay, New York: Regina Rex, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  7. Wilson, Michael. "John Dilg Speaks to Michael Wilson," New American Paintings, August-September, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  8. Lanyon, Ellen. "Seven by Nine Times Two," Art Journal, Summer, 1980, p. 276-278. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  9. Arkansas Art Center. Collection. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  10. Smith, Roberta. "Like Watching Paint Thrive," The New York Times, June 28, 2012, p. C21, 26. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  11. Lockwood, Wes. "Patient Process," New Art Examiner, May-June 2001, p. 101.
  12. Adelaide, Kari. "Shoot the Lobster," HuffPost, June 1, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  13. Rhodes College. "John Dilg," Clough-Hanson Gallery. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  14. University of Iowa. "John Dilg, Professor Emeritus," People. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  15. The Daily Palette. "Jan Weissmiller," The University of Iowa. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  16. Berg, Zach. "The 40-year history of Prairie Lights bookstore, an Iowa literary institution," Iowa City Press-Citizen, May 29, 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  17. Conklin, Jo-Ann. "Souvenirs of the Walk," John Dilg: Paintings 1994–1998 (Catalogue), Iowa City, IA: The University of Iowa, 1998.
  18. Des Moines Register. "Byron Burford 1920–2011," Obituaries. June 21, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  19. Queen, Larry. "John Dilg, Gordon Powell," New Art Examiner, November 1983.
  20. Findsen, Owen. "Art," The Cincinnati Enquirer, September 21, 1980, p. F-9.
  21. Hayakawa, Alan. "Dilg Paintings Play Around Edges of Representation," The Oregonian, September 25, 1982, p. E7.
  22. Nugent, Bob L. Chicago Abstract Painting (Catalogue, traveling exhibition), Rohnert Park, CA: Sonoma State University Art Gallery, 1982.
  23. Firestone, Evan, "Landscape and Abstraction," in Abstracted Landscape: Four Iowa Painters (Catalogue), Ames, IA: Octagon Center for the Arts, 1986.
  24. Artner, Alan G. "Season Preview," Chicago Tribune, September 10, 1995.
  25. Suhre, Terry, Perfect Memories (catalogue), St. Louis, MO: University of Missouri-St. Louis, Gallery 210, 2001.
  26. Leffingwell, Edward. "John Dilg at Luise Ross," Art in America, June 2002, p. 125. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  27. Jeff Bailey Gallery. "John Dilg," Artists. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  28. Wright, Lesley. "John Dilg," in Patient Process (Catalogue), Grinnell, IA: Grinnell College, Faulconer Gallery, 2001.
  29. Koeppel, Fredric. "Subdued palette and spare images belie paintings' implications," GO Memphis, November 23, 2012.
  30. McQuaid, Cate. "The year in galleries: closed doors, open horizons," The Boston Globe, December 23, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  31. Koeppel, Fredric. "Memphis' top exhibitions rife with revelations," GO Memphis, Best of List, 10 best exhibitions of 2012, December 27, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  32. McQuaid, Cate. "American mystic," CateMcQuaid.com, January 2, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  33. Devening Projects. "John Dilg," Artists. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  34. Cooper, Ivy. "John Dilg: Recent Paintings," Riverfront Times, May 5, 2004. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  35. Butcher, Dwayne. "Painter’s Painter: Work by John Dilg at Clough-Hanson," Memphis Flyer, November 22, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  36. Davis, Maggie. "'Soft Eyes' group show hovers between familiar and strange, at Whitespace," ArtsAtlanta, September 3, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  37. Gay, Malcolm. "St. Louis Art Capsules," Riverfront Times, January 16, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  38. Steven Zevitas Gallery Headdress, John Dilg Artists. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  39. Zevitas, Steven. "15 Artists to Watch in 2015," HuffPost, December 16, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  40. Johnson, Stacey. Review (Luise Ross Gallery exhibition), MAKE Magazine, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  41. Regina Rex. "John Dilg and Karsten Krejcarek," Exhibitions. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  42. Taymour Grahne. "Natural Memory, John Dilg," Exhibitions. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  43. Steven Zevitas Gallery. "John Dilg,". Artists. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  44. Yau, John. "The Studio Visit That Wasn’t Exactly a Studio Visit: Dan Devening, Mie Kongo, Peter Shear," Hyperallergic, February 19, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  45. Bonetti, David. "John Dilg: Recent Work," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 27, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  46. Dupuis, Dorothee. "Dallas Art Fair 2016 and Houston Roundup," Terramoto, Contemporary Art in the Americas, May 5, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  47. Figge Art Museum. "John Dilg: Arterial Resources," Exhibitions. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  48. Donnelley, Timothy. Die neue Sicht der Dinge, Germany: Lux Books Americana, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
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