DILLWYN SMITH b. 1958, UK
Installation view of the exhibition Teacher’s Pet at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art
By the skin of our teeth Nylons, dishdasha materials, stretcher 230 x 170 cm 2017 £ 12.000 plus VAT
Installation view at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art
Placebo Painting Nylons, stretcher 208 x 144 cm 2017 Private collection, Denmark
Installation view at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art
The Perceiver of World Sounds Nylons, dishdasha material, stretcher 214 x 214 cm 2017 £ 15.000 plus VAT
Installation view at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art
Dillwyn Smith’s oeuvre broadly belongs to the realm of colour field abstraction. Smith has developed a distinctly organic and sensual manner more connected to the spiritually charged surfaces of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko than the tradition of the British colour field painters. Smith uses the “language of painting” by juxtaposing asymmetrical stretched pieces of nylon and dishdasha cloth, held in place with machine stitching. Instead of the colour being applied, it is the colour embedded in the fabric and its placing that defines the composition and its mood.
Untitled Nylons, stretcher 214 x 214 cm 2017 £ 15.000 plus VAT
Sensitised Ground Nylons, dishdasha fabric, stretcher 216 x 216 cm 2018 £ 15.000 plus VAT
Installation view of the exhibition Light Cages at V.O Curations, 2019, London
Light Cage Nylons, stretcher 216 x 216 cm 2018 £ 15.000 plus VAT
The fabrics Smith uses possess a great luminescence thanks to the light susceptibility of the thin tissues and the permeability of the semitransparent fabrics. Their surfaces absorb the light moving across the textiles, bringing the colours to life. The works expand beyond their borders, an effect reinforced by the visibility of the wooden stretchers that reveal a physical presence of the kaleidoscopic composition and connect it to the space they are in. A sense of gravity arises that redefines the relationship between the viewer, the art work, the surroundings and the world beyond.
Turning Poison into Medicine III Nylons, dishdasha material, shou sugi ban stretcher 183 x 114 cm 2018 £ 9.000 plus VAT
Turning Poison into Medicine II Nylons, restoration material, shou sugi ban stretcher 140 x 104 cm 2018 £ 7.500 plus VAT
Turning Poison into Medicine IV Nylons, shou sugi ban stretcher 110 x 89 cm 2018 £ 6.000 plus VAT
Turning Poison into Medicine I Nylons, dishdasha material, stretcher 130 x 97 cm 2018 £ 7.000 plus VAT
In 2012 Dillwyn was awarded a residency based in Muscat by the Omani Society of Fine Art, the Delfina Foundation and the British Council. One evening he accompanied fellow artist Abdul Rahim Al Hooti to a tailor where the latter was having a new dishdasha made. Dillwyn explained: ‘I looked around and the walls were full of local colour embedded in fabrics. I realised immediately that here was my new palette. I went about putting bolts of different colours together for hours and going back the next day too. I then cut and pinned them together and had the stitching done by the tailor.’ (Excerpts from Jill Knipe’s Wall Street Journal article, 5th November 2019)
Desire for Hermitage Nylons, dishdasha fabric, stretcher 167 x 229 cm 2018 £ 14.000 plus VAT
Installation view at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art
Hermit Songs Beater dyed cotton rag Khadi paper with paper clay support 44 x 30 x 15 cm each (11 works) 2018 £ 3.000 plus VAT (each) £ 25.000 plus VAT for the wall
Smith has, for quite a few years now, been almost fully dedicating himself to colour and its metaphysical values. From essences of pigments that he sprays and saturates into fabric or canvas to purely hand and pre-dyed fabrics. His works are based on a special dedication to materiality and the texture of sensual surfaces. Even though Smith mainly uses straight lines and rectangular shapes, his compositions are neither geometrical nor formal, they seem on the contrary rather organic and dynamic. The assemblies of cloth panels recall rag rugs with stitches that stretch over the surface like scars or cracks in mirrors or walls. Ultimately, they are reminiscent of painting though no brush ever comes close to their surface.
Full Transparency Nylons, stretcher 167 x 229 cm 2018 £ 14.000 plus VAT Installation view of the exhibition Light Cages at V.O Curations, 2019, London
Hermit Song Nylons, Shou sugi ban stretcher 167 x 229 cm 2018 £ 14.000 plus VAT Installation view of the exhibition Light Cages at V.O Curations, 2019, London
Praise Nylons, dishdasha fabric, stretcher 167 x 229 cm 2018 £ 14.000 plus VAT Installation view of the exhibition Light Cages at V.O Curations, 2019, London
Installation view of the exhibition Dirty Linen at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, 2014
Dillwyn Smith observed his mother’s journey through Alzheimer’s “when the spoken voice had left her and touch and silent conversations” were all that was left. He realised this was similar to painting: “get out of a chair; put paint on canvas; go back and 'sense' if a dialogue is going on between us.” [Smith} has used homeopathy since childhood and decided to bring its notion of vibration to his thoughts on colour. Homeopathic remedies are made by crushing a plant or mineral substance in a solvent. One drop of the mother tincture is mixed with nine drops of an alcohol and water solution. This dilution is shaken violently in a process called succussion. With generous and timely support from Nelsons UK, Dillwyn Smith created essences of cobalt blue, ivory black, cadmium red, chromium yellow and titanium white to add a metaphysical dimension to his colour fields. (Gil Hedley, curator of ‘Dirty Linen’ at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, 2014)
Potency Painting Linen, potenised pigment Titanium White 600 198 x 128 cm 2007 £ 14.000 plus VAT
Material Things Canvas, voile, pre-dyed hessian, acrylic and potenised pigment Titanium White 6 200 x 120 cm 2012 Private collection, Paris
A few years ago in Latvia, Dillwyn Smith wandered around [Daugavpils] the birthplace of Mark Rothko. After a time, he gathered a sense of what the great forefather of abstraction would have frequently seen in the first ten years of his childhood: decorated windows. Throughout Daugavpils there are countless wooden houses with shuttered windows in various stages of decay and replenishment, their frames and surrounds lavished in an array of subdued colours. Dillwyn’s intense visual research resulted in an exhibition of simple, yet incredibly colour-sensitive paintings displayed alongside his enchanting site photographs. (Excerpts from Jill Knipe’s Wall Street Journal article, 5th November 2019)
Placebo Painting: Violet/Dusky Pink, Blues & Beige/Amber Nylon, dishdasha fabric 170.5 x 55.5 cm each & 170 x 55 cm (Blues) 2012-13 £ 8.000 plus VAT each
The Art of Intention Restoration fabric, linen, nylon hessian, primer/ Black acrylic, potenised pigment Ivory Black 30, canvas 120.5 x 80.5 cm 2008 -10 £ 7.000 plus VAT
Stitched Paintings: Greens Grey, Blues Black, Red Browns & Browns Pink Nylon, dishdasha materials 45 x 37 cm each 2013 £ 3.000 plus VAT each
Installation view at the Round Chapel, London, March 2021
Smith’s series Desire for Hermitage was inspired by a visit to Skellig Michael off the west coast of Ireland while in residency at the Cill Rialaig project in 2014. The objects are developed from folded, hand-made papers of different sizes, standing upright like open books, the insides covered in diluted pigments. Although Smith introduces a sculptural element, colour and sensitivity towards the material remain at the centre of his endeavour. The light that moves on the paper illuminates its coarse surface and reflects onto the unpainted pages and the surrounding area, simultaneously casting shadows. Reduced to the essence, it is the work’s simplicity that determines its intensity and renders them poetic.
Desire for Herimitage watercolour on Bockingford 425 grams paper 39 x 28 cm (pages vary) 2017 £ 2.200 plus VAT each Installation view at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art
The artist’s studio
DILLWYN SMITH
Born in 1958, London, United Kingdom Lives and works in London, UK Education
1978-81 1983-86
Canterbury College of Art B.A. (1st Class honours) Royal College of Art M.A.
Solo Exhibitions
2021 2020 2019 2018 2016 2014 2013
2012 2009 2007 2003 2000 1998 1994 1993 1988
Let there be Light, Round Chapel Hackney, London Dillwyn Smith, Eurostar Kings Cross VIP lounges, London Light Cages, VO Curations, London Teacher’s Pet, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London Silvering the Crebrum, The Street Gallery, University College Hospital, London Dirty Linen, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London The Windows, Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, Latvia Salon Oman Nour, Leighton House Museum, London The Nakedness of Silence, Asylum Studios, Suffolk Salon Oman, The Gallery, 28 Cork Street, London Warp and Weft, Omani Society of Fine Arts, Muscat The Art of Intention, Unit 3c, London Home from Home, Highgate, London Pinturas. objetos para la contemplacion, Galeria Magda Bellotti, Madrid Keep your eyes in Peace, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham ADII, London Painting, Gilmore Gallery, London Painting 1990-1993, Maak Gallery, London Galerie Inselstrasse, Berlin Bilder vom Menschen, Kunsthalle, Bielefeld, Germany Barclays Award Show, Royal College of Art, London
Selected Group Exhibitions
2020 2019
2018 2017 2015 2014 2013
Forms of Autonomy, CC Gallery, London Madeleine, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London meɪkʌp, MOCA London, London Royal Academy Summer Show, London Mostra, British School Rome, Rome We could be Heroes, MPHQ Project Space, Cologne Malevolent, Eldritch Shrieking, Sheffield The Colour and the Shape, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London Declaring Spaces, Kunstverein Raumordnung, Raumordnung Sort it Out, Asylum Studios, Suffolk kaleidoscope: re-shuffle, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London STAG - disparti&disparti project, Reggio Emilia
2012
2005 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1994
1993 1992 1991 1990
1989 1988 1987
Nour Festival - Omani Legends & Stories, Chelsea Theatre, London Omani Legends & Stories, Crossing Borders Festival, Traquair House, Innerleithen Omani Legends & Stories, Bait Al Baranda Museum, Bait Al Zubair Museum, British Council Building, Omani Society for Fine Arts, Artclub Jebroo, Muscat, Oman Back and Forth, Gallery B55, supported by British Council, Budapest Invited artist, APT Open Studios, London Who’s afraid of Red Yellow Blue?, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh 20+ Artist’s, Unlimited, Bielefeld Structure and Situation, University of Southern California Structure and Situation, Environmental Design Gallery Michael Folonis, Ocean Park Boulevard Santa Monica Summer Exhibition, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London Summer Exhibition, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London Small is Beautiful, Flowers West, Los Angeles Purdy Hicks Gallery, London Works on Paper, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London Small is Beautiful, Music, Flowers East, London British and German Artists, Nord/LB, CAS selection, Hannover The Skin of the White Lady, Artic Foundation, Eindhoven British Abstract Art III (works on paper), Flowers East, London XXVI Festival International de la Peintre, Dillwyn Smith /David Leapman British Council, Cagnes-Sur-Mur Corr Contemporary Art, London British Abstract Art, Painting 1, Flowers East, London Touch, Gilmore Gallery, London Cologne Art Fair, Maak Gallery, London 3 British Artists, Centre d’Art en Cite, Geneva 3 Sculptors-3 Painters, Maak Gallery, London Vyugovey Ice Sculpture Festival, Gorky Park, Moscow Four British Artists, Galerie Zur Alten Deutsche Schule, Thun Three Ways RCA, British Council International Touring Show 41st Salon de la Jeune Peinture, Grand Palais, Paris The Theory & Practice of Small Painting, Anderson O’Day, London Recent Acquisitions, Unilever, London Current Work, selected by Peter de Francia, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield Atlas 3, selected by Jake Tilson - Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London Royal Overseas League, London Artists who studied with Peter de Francia, Camden Art Centre, London
Collaborations
2012 2010
2008
Omani Legends: Omani Society of Fine Arts, Muscat Artclub Jebroo: Jebroo, Muttrah Paul Smith: limited edition Sneakers, London The Dancing art of Intention: dancer/choreographer Noel Wallace: Wilton’s Music Hall, London Well Hung Coalition: Installation -Truffles Delicatessen, London La Tierra de Nadie: co-producer (Delfina Foundation) Hay Festival, Alhambra
2005
Palace, Granada Sacred Clown: Film - David Bickerstaff, Didier Danthios, Dillwyn Smith The National: Film - David Bickerstaff, Dillwyn Smith
Awards, Commissions & Residencies
2021 2018 2016 2013-15 2012
2010 2007 2006 2001 1992 1991 1990 1989 1987 1986
Round Chapel, Hacknet, artist in residence Abbey Fellow Award, British School Rome, Rome Building Better Healthcare Award for Best Collaborative Arts Project “Silvering the Cerebrum” Residency: Brain Bank, Neurological Hospital, Queens Square London Invited Artist: Mark Rothko Residencies - Daugavpils, Latvia. Metabolic Studio/Annenberg Foundation Award Residency: British Council, Omani Society Fine Arts & Delfina Foundation Muscat Design consultant: Morito, London The Bryan Robertson Award Commission: Nelson Bach, London Commission: Insite - Suffolk Council Studio exchange: Karl Hofer Gesellshaft, Berlin Honorary Diploma, Soviet Artist Union Delfina Studio Residency, London Triangle Artists Workshop, New York Artists Unlimited - Artist In Residence, Bielefeld Barclays Young Artist Award (Winner) John Minton Award, RCA Taliani/Chase Foundation Scholarship, Venice
Public & Corporate Collections
Arthur Anderson & Co, London, UK Barclays Bank PLC, London, UK British Airways, London, UK British Council, Berlin, Germany C & J Clark, Somerset, UK Coopers and Lybrand, London, UK Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, Latvia Delfina Studios Trust, London, UK Deutsche Bank, London, UK Djanogly Gallery, University of Nottingham, UK Lloyd Thompson Insurance, London, UK Nord/LB, Berlin, Germany Phillips Petroleum, London, UK Royal College of Art, London, UK Seagram, The Ark, London, UK Stanhope, London, UK Swedish Embassy, London, UK Triangle Artists Workshop, New York, USA Unilever PLC, London, UK
The first encounter with Dillwyn was rather cold and a touch smelly. The London curator Gil Hedley had introduced me to his work and our common studio visit was scheduled on a chilly January morning. To make the visit a little cosier Dillwyn used some fire heaters to warm up his studio, yet fully smoked out the place. For us to be able to see the art, all doors and windows had to be opened. Despite the freezing temperatures I right away warmed to Dillwyn’s colour sensibility and creative impulse. It is rare to encounter artists where the inspiration to make art is such purely and strongly pursued intuition. Dillwyn’s greatest gift though is to imbue colour with spiritual energy and vice versa. (Patrick Heide)
The artist