Laddie John Dill (b. 1943, Long Beach, California) is a pioneering figure of the Southern California Light and Space movement, whose groundbreaking practice has explored the relationship between light, material, and perception for more than five decades.
Emerging in the late 1960s alongside artists including Robert Irwin, James Turrell, and Larry Bell, Dill developed a distinctive visual language through his experimental use of light, glass, sand, and industrial metals. His celebrated Light Sentences, Light Plains, and Light Traps transform these materials into luminous, immersive works that challenge the boundaries between sculpture, painting, and architecture.
A graduate of the Chouinard Art Institute, Dill was among the first Los Angeles Light and Space artists to exhibit in New York, presenting his inaugural solo exhibition at the influential Sonnabend Gallery in 1971. His work has since been exhibited internationally, including at the Norton Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli.
Dill's work is held in major institutional collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; and Museo Jumex, Mexico City.