Norton Museum of Art Hosts Installation By Light and Space Pioneer Laddie John Dill

The Norton Museum of Art is displaying one of its newest acquisitions, EST (Eastern Standard Time), by Laddie John Dill, an immersive argon and neon installation. The titular work in the exhibition is from Dill's Silica Landscape series, a subsect of the artist's "Light Sentence" works. This monumental work, featuring hand-blown light tubes placed throughout a bed of sand, will nearly fill one of the Norton's largest gallery spaces, the Gioconda and Joseph King Gallery. The acquisition will be on view through October 19, 2025.

Dill has produced his "Light Sentence" works for more than five decades. Created from custom blown-glass forms lined with fluorescent emulsion and infused with electrified gases. The hand-blown glass tubes of varying lengths emit sequences of colored and clear light. Dill considers the "Light Sentence" series an ongoing investigation into the interaction of light, color, gas, and electric charges, and viewers have often described the works as ethereal or otherworldly. The accompanying drawings offer insights into the process of creating the work, from conception to edits to the final piece.

"The presentation of EST (Eastern Standard Time) at the Norton is a unique opportunity for South Florida audiences to experience work by a pioneer of the Light and Space movement, something that has been historically celebrated predominantly on the West Coast," said Ghislain d'Humieres, Kenneth C. Griffin Director and CEO. "This immersive experience will make viewers feel as though they are being transported to another world. The visually captivating nature of Laddie John Dill's use of light will draw visitors of all ages to EST (Eastern Standard Time), introducing new audiences to the beauty of the Light and Space movement, works of art that go beyond 2- and 3-D works."

The Light and Space movement is the formal title assigned to the minimalist art that emerged from the West Coast in the 1960s and 1970s by artists concerned with how varying uses of light and geometric shapes could inform and alter a viewer's perception and environment. Dill's contemporaries include artists Bob Irwin and James Turell, both fascinated with the relationship between light and observation.

Dill first exhibited works from his "Light Sentences" series in California in 1971, and EST (Eastern Standard Time), though formally created in 2022, was first conceptualized in 1970. He was one of the first Los Angeles artists to exhibit Light and Space work in New York. The work evokes oceanic imagery, creating an abstract sense of natural movement with the work's argon, mercury, and neon-enforced geometry, reminding the viewer of the fluidity of nature. The artist himself noted that his work exists as a manifestation of the construction of a symbiotic relationship between natural materials and cutting-edge technology.

"Laddie John Dill is a pioneer in the Light and Space movement but has not yet received the due acknowledgment for his work that artists such as James Turrell and Larry Bell have enjoyed," said Arden Sherman, Glenn W. & Cornelia T. Bailey Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Norton and curator of EST (Eastern Standard Time). "The Norton is pleased to have a long history of providing a platform for under-recognized artists, and we are excited to give Dill his moment"

EST (Eastern Standard Time) is curated by Arden Sherman, Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Senior Curator of Contemporary Art and organized by the Norton Museum of Art.