Sophia Dixon Dillo
HIGHLIGHTS
Calvin Klein Collection at Madison Avenue
Vermont Studio Center, residency
Four Seasons, Denver, permanent collection
Colorado State University, permanent collection
Department of Cultural Affairs, NM, permanent collection
My works are contingent upon their environment and are meant to create their own space. I am fascinated with how light can be both visible and invisible at the same time. Light is always present, yet not always overtly manifest. My works play with this inherent contradiction in the nature of light. I combine transparent, translucent, reflective and opaque layers with all-over patterning to create works that incorporate light and shadow on and between the surfaces. The result is a fusing of the materiality of the art object with the immateriality of light, creating a multivalent visual experience that subtly changes as the viewer moves.
Sophia Dixon Dillo is known for incorporating the active medium of light into her quiet and delicate work. Made from transparent and translucent materials, on both a large and small scale, she employs subtle patterning to draw the viewer’s attention from the particular to the whole. These works are experiential, and require the viewer’s presence, in order to witness the ever-shifting movement of light on the artwork.
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dillo grew up watching her father, artist Willard Dixon, paint in his studio, and began to explore abstract painting in her early years as an artist. She studied formally at the Lacoste Ecole des Arts in Lacoste, France, and completed her academic education with an MFA from Colorado State University in 2009. Her work is collected and exhibits throughout the U.S. and internationally. In 2015 she completed an installation for the Calvin Klein Collection on Madison Avenue in New York made from 83 miles of copper thread. Her recent solo exhibit, Emergence, was chosen as a “Pick of the Week” by ArtWeekLA.