Beautiful Dirt: Ballgowns of Lightness and Dark is Lesley Dill’s ninth exhibition with the gallery and was inspired by the ballroom culture of New Orleans and the adornment of the body. Featured are nine gowned figures centered by a cascading chandelier. The figures range in size from a tabletop sculpture to 7 feet tall, and are constructed of billowing fabric adorned with embroidered letters, flowing skirts of hand-cut copper, or hundreds of pieces of metal foil and feathers. Some of the figures have dramatic head embellishments or collars and others are donned with small, bird-like heads, paying homage to surrealist Max Ernst.
Galleries
Lesley Dill
Bird and Leaf Chandelier
2014
Metal, silver-leaf, wire, enamel paint, copper, and vinyl
132 x 32 x 32 inches
Lesley Dill
Big Heart Gown
2014
Hand-painted metal with oil paint and wire on metal armature
82 x 66 x 66 inches
Lesley Dill
Dirt
2014
Copper, black metal and wire on metal armature
72 x 68 x 68 inches
Lesley Dill
Gown of Blueprint
2014
Hand-painted metal with oil paint on metal armature
78 x 58 x 58 inches (closed)
78 x 67 x 69 inches (open)
Lesley Dill
White Bird Homage to Charles Dickens Gown
2014
Hand-painted metal with oil paint, foam and wire on metal armature
65 x 88 x 77 inches
Lesley Dill
Ecstasy Gown
2014
Painted metal, wire and thread on metal armature
68 x 55 x 27 inches
Lesley Dill
Silver Bird Gown of Ascension
2014
Scrubbed metal, wire, fabric and paint on metal armature
54 x 63 x 63 inches
Lesley Dill
Wildness of Blackbird
2013
Black foil, silk organza, wire, black satin, paint, metal armature
60 x 72 x 72 inches
Lesley Dill
Copper Bird Little
2014
Copper, wire and organza on metal armature
47 x 54 x 34 inches
Lesley Dill
Blackbird for John Donne
2014
Thread, fabric, metal, plastic and feathers
13 1/2 x 21 x 21 inches
Lesley Dill
Ecstacy Girl
2014
Ink, thread and fabric
32 x 42 x 2 inches