Friday, March 25, 2016

Meet Artist George Dillon, Spring Obsession accepted artist

O-=019  Tango Dancers  acrylic  30x15  $325
GEORGE DILLON

     George has had an interest and a connection to art all his life but only in the last eighteen years has he been able to dedicate his full time to its pursuit.

     His teachers include nationally renowned landscape artist Charles White, watercolorists Penny Soto and Joan Dougherty, Judie Cain, a frequent contributor to Artist Magazine and portraitist Gary Bergren.  Ben Kikuyama, an internationally known featured artist at the Lahaina Galleries in Maui has been his mentor in the field of mixed media and three-dimensional art.

     George's style is most often surreal or modern and has been influenced by Picasso, Matisse and Georges Braque as well as his first encounters with African Art and travel. So farGeorge has traveled to over ninety countries. His feature show for March will exhibit works he created from his experiences in several of these localities.

     His imagination and whimsy have all been inspiration to him and have encouraged his experimentation with color, theme and materials. His 3-dimensional art, which was the subject of a presentation to the Lodi Council of Arts, is typically built from canvas or paper and then layered upon each other to form his interpretations of the subject. He takes a more conventional approach to more traditional themes.

     George's art is typically both bold and colorful and challenges his viewers' sensibilities with sometimes humorous and sometimes penetrating looks at culture and its surroundings. Further adding to his art are his pithy titles that often reflect both innuendo and a healthy splash of irony.

     When asked what type of art he creates, Dillon responds, "It is hard to categorize, but I am known for color. I want each observer to have an emotional response of some type to my paintings. The vivid use of color causes a reaction as we tend to be internally stirred by the spectrum before us. I can describe what a painting means to me, but I hope the viewer comes up with a meaning that conjures up his or her own inner feelings."
O-018  Sunny But Windy  acrylic  18x24  $300

     Dillon always starts a painting with the idea of where he wants to go but reflects that sometimes the creative process takes over and the finished product is something he never dreamed of. He gets a great feeling looking at a painting and having no idea how he did it but great satisfaction in the accomplishment.
He offers a tip for viewers, "Often my titles help to discover what the art piece is trying to convey".  Many of his titles will challenge the observer to examine their own awareness.

currently George is a member of the Calaveras County Arts Council, the Amador County Artists Association and the Lodi Council of Arts. His works have been on display in several venues in the Bay Area, Sacramento and currently in the California foothills.

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