LESLEY DILL
Lesley Dill (born 1950) is an American contemporary artist. Her work, using a wide variety of media including sculpture, print, performance art, music, and others, explores the power of language and the mystical nature of the psyche. Dill currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is represented by Nohra Haime Gallery in New York City.
Copper Suits, 1995
Medium:Copper
Size: 60 x 35 x 8 in. (152.4 x 88.9 x 20.3 cm.)
"Exhilaration is Within-- There can no Outer Wine so royally Intoxicate as that Divine brand within" - Emily Dickinson
I think of words as a kind of spiritual armor. I read that Muslim warriors would go into battle wearing metal armor inscribed with prayers. Words, like clothing , like armor, protect us. They selectively reveal and conceal. Dickinson wrote most of her poems during the American Civil War and thus saw many of her hometown Amherst young men return home wounded or dead. She also wrote "There is a word that bears a sword-- can Pierce an armed man .." As well as " I am afraid to own a body -- I am afraid to own a Soul-- Profound Precarious Property" . So, she wrote a big world. A world of Ecstasy and thrill inside of a world of apprehension. I wanted to make these big , yet vulnerable suits in homage to this bigness of seeing and naming life.
Lesley Dill, Brooklyn NY March 2019