Painter/sculptor Laddie John Dill was born in Long Beach, California in 1943. He graduated from Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, in 1968 with a BFA degree.

After graduation from Chouinard, Dill worked as a printing apprentice with Pop artists Robert Rauschenberg, Claus Oldenberg, Roy Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns (with whom he lived in the 1970s).

Dill was influenced by Rauschenberg, Keith Sonnier, and environmental artists Robert Smithson, Dennis Oppenheim and Robert Irwin, who were exploring alternatives to easel painting.

In 1968, Dill created installations composed of glass, neon and sand, which appeared to be aerial views of landscape in a horizontal format. In 1971, Dill had his first one-man exhibit at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York.

Through experimentation his work took on a fresh format bounded by straight lines with the addition of architectonic shapes. In 1975, the format was vertical, suggesting "a figurative reference achieved by a more formal architectural structuring." Two years later he was working on a vertical "Door" series.

Later paintings fused both landscape and architectural imagery. Dill was working with cement polymer, glass, silicone and oil on canvas. He has also made drawings in pastel, oil and graphite on rag paper. In addition to carving cement, Dill filled a room in his studio with 10,000 pounds of silica sand, using brooms and shovels to move it around in the creation of his version of an art work.

AWARDS
1983 - California Arts Council
1982 - National Endowment for the Arts, Art in Public Grant
1979 - John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
1975 - National Endowment for the Arts, Artists Fellowship

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1998 - Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, TX
1996 - Chac Mool Contemporary Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
1995 - Ochi Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
1995 - Valerie Miller Fine Art, Palm Springs, CA
1994 - Andrea Marquit Fine Arts, Boston, MA
1994 - Steven Josefsberg Gallery, Portland, OR
1994 - Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, TX
1993 - Ochi Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
1992 - Stremmel Gallery, Reno, NV
1992 - Conejo Valley Art Museum, Thousand Oaks, CA
1992 - Fong & Spratt Galleries, San Jose, CA
1991 - Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1991 - Works Gallery South, Costa Mesa, CA
1991 - Fong Galleries, San Jose, CA
1990 - Works Gallery South, Costa Mesa, CA
1990 - Sam Francis Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1990 - Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1990 - Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1990 - Sena Galleries West, Santa Fe, NM
1989 - Smith Anderson Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
1989 - Cypress College, Cypress, CA
1989 - Persons & Lindell Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
1989 - Sun Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1989 - Christopher Grimes Gallery, Carmel, CA
1989 - Ochi Gallery, Sun Valley, ID
1988 - Ochi Fine Art, Boise, ID
1988 - Sun Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1988 - Sena Galleries West, Santa Fe, NM
1988 - Mixografia Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1988 - Galeria Joan Prats, New York, NY
1988 - Ochi Fine Arts, Sun Valley, ID
1988 - Gensler and Assoc., Los Angeles, CA
1987 - Site 311, Pacific Grove, CA
1987 - Fuller/Golden Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1987 - Santa Monica Heritage Museum, Santa Monica, CA
1987 - Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1986 - James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1986 - Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY
1986 - Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
1986 - Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1985 - Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1985 - Union Gallery, San Jose, CA
1984 - Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
1984 - Fuller Goldeen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1984 - Ochi Gallery, Boise, ID
1984 - Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1983 - University Art Museum, Long Beach, CA
1983 - James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1983 - Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1983 - Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY
1983 - West Beach Cafe, Los Angeles, CA
1982 - Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1982 - Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1982 - James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1981 - Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY
1981 - Peppers Art Gallery, Redlands, CA
1981 - Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
1981 - Landfall Press Gallery, Chicago, IL
1981 - Thomas Babeor Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1981 - Grapestake Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1980 - Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1980 - Osuna Gallery, Washington DC
1980 - James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1980 - University Art Gallery, Dominguez Hills, CA

Source:
Les Krantz, American Artists, Illustrated Survey of Leading Contemporary Artists
Websites of Kevin Barry Fine Art and Izen Miller Gallery, 2002