Artist to Know: Bob Dilworth - Inside Art with Michael Rose

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Michael Rose, Art Contributor

 

View Larger +

PHOTO: Michael Rose

 

Providence artist Bob Dilworth is renowned for making artworks that are ambitiously scaled and intricately crafted. Active in Rhode Island for more than thirty years, Dilworth is rightly one of the state’s most decorated artists and someone whose career is a testament to his nearly compulsive passion for making. Surfaces throughout his home and studio are covered in the materials used to create his richly layered mixed media artworks. An important creator sharing deeply personal stories, Dilworth is one of the state’s preeminent artists and his work is the subject of a highly anticipated solo exhibition, Backyard, opening at the Newport Art Museum July 15.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

 

Dilworth originally came to Rhode Island in the early 1970s to study at RISD. After departing for graduate school at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he was not sure he would return, but an opportunity to teach at Brown brought him back. Soon, he had a position as Professor of Art at the University of Rhode Island, where he taught for many years. Now Emeritus, Dilworth has the time to dedicate his full energies to his own art. The recipient of numerous awards and residencies, Dilworth’s work is in prominent collections like those of the National Gallery of Art for the Corcoran Collection, the RISD Museum, and the Chicago Public Library. He is represented by Cade Tompkins Projects in Providence.

 

View Larger +

PHOTO: Michael Rose

 

Many of Dilworth’s recent works revolve around individuals from his hometown of Lawrenceville, Virginia. Since 2010, he has been revisiting the town and interviewing residents. Many of the large-scale figurative works he now creates incorporate neighbors and friends as subjects, and utilize patterns and textile motifs often lifted from subjects’ homes.

 

Asked about his use of pattern, Dilworth responds, “Patterns are important in my work but are not really the center of the narrative. Although they may seem dominant they evolved as a design element to help investigate constructs of remembrance. Over time, household fabrics and other material given to me by relatives and friends were woven into the painted surface. I also cut paper, stenciled and spray-painted images to accentuate multiple figures often representing one person, one journey, over time, that show the aging body as acts of restoration.”

 

View Larger +

PHOTO: Michael Rose

 

Dilworth’s paintings are exceptionally large and in his garage studio in Elmhurst, they feel particularly immersive. They also require many hours of work, with the artist returning again and again to add textures, layers, and components that deepen and enrich their surfaces. Asked when he knows he has completed a painting, Dilworth says, “There really is no way to know when a work is finished. I often say it’s finished when it leaves the studio. However, I might add that if a work is based on an idea then that work is finished when the idea is exhausted, therefore, a finished work is never about filling the canvas but about filling the idea.”

 

View Larger +

PHOTO: Michael Rose

 

A collection of Dilworth’s paintings will be on view in his exciting solo exhibition at the Newport Art Museum July 15 - December 31, 2023. Speaking about the show, the Museum’s Chief Curator Dr. Francince Weiss stated, “In his energetic and layered mixed media paintings, Bob Dilworth represents ‘Black life, lifestyle, and culture’ while exploring the issues of identity, place, heritage, ancestry, family, and generational change. This exhibition features works from the past ten years of the artist’s career, some of which are new and have never been exhibited before.”

 

View Larger +

PHOTO: Michael Rose

 

In anticipation of the show, the Museum has replaced the portraits that normally adorn the grand staircase in its Griswold House with two stunning pieces by Dilworth. In an upstairs gallery, another piece by the artist already in the Museum’s collection takes up an entire wall and brings figures into space. Titled “Backyard”, the painting gives its name to Dilworth’s forthcoming exhibition.

 

View Larger +

PHOTO: Michael Rose

 

Looking ahead to his solo show, Dilworth is primed to display an impressive body of work. Asked what he hopes audiences experience when they see his exhibition, Dilworth answers, “While there’s a lot of talk about place and time in my work, I want people to think of the work as a journey as I move through time from place to place. The journey started in my hometown but is not over yet. Taking the show in its entirety, one will become aware of this journey. I also want them to see that painting is never passive but is always active - so that it leads to action.”

 

If there is any artist who can help viewers see the active nature of painting, it is Bob Dilworth. His solo exhibition in Newport is undoubtedly one of the must-see art exhibitions of 2023.

 

Learn more about Bob Dilworth and his upcoming solo exhibition Backyard opening July 15 at www.newportartmuseum.org.

Michael Rose is a multi-talented fine art professional based in Southern New England. Since 2014 he has served as the gallery manager at the historic Providence Art Club, one of the nation’s oldest arts organizations. Through his current freelance work he advises collectors and artists, provides appraisal services, teaches, and completes curatorial projects.

LEARN MORE HERE
 

Related Articles

 

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

 
 

Sign Up for the Daily Eblast

I want to follow on Twitter

I want to Like on Facebook