LOU DILLON




l0ud1110nj@gmail.com
@lou_d_j

Lou Dillon is an artist and writer whose work extends from their own lived bodily experience to create an expanded field of embodied language used to condense and restrict material accumulation through framed and edited modes of thought, gesture and documentation. The resulting ephemera is mobilized to form fluid and temporary identity hypotheses that reform and eschew trauma surrounding gender, disability, and mixed cultural lineages. Meaning is imbued, flexible, time based, and disappearing. Dillon navigates the razor’s edge of body and mind where individual and collective worlds collide and end; where each annihilation is the only place to rebuild. Each thought form established like a breath of life rebuilding integrity toward a transient sense of self lost and stored in forms of societal oppression and control; a patriarchal unraveling and reclaiming while still inhabiting a body where trauma, lives, and bodies are stored. Dillon holds an MFA from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Her work has been shown in Los Angeles and New York and internationally in France and Germany.


CONTACT
CV 




Education
MFA Art Center College of Design. 2018.

BFA Otis College of Art and Design. 2013.


Teaching Teaching Assistant, for Ariana Reines. Gnostic Poetics. Scripps College. Claremont, CA. 2022.

Teaching Assistant, for Olga Koumoundouros. Senior Projects. Art Center College of Design. Pasadena, CA. 2018.

Teaching Assistant for Bruce Hainley. The Buried Individual. Art Center College of Design. Pasadena, CA. 2017.




EmploymentArt Director, Dos Gardenias. Malibu, CA. 2016-2026.

Program Assistant, Ariana Reines’ Invisible College. Virtual. Since 2021.

Website Design & Management, Ariana Reines. Virtual. 2020-2023.

Media Design, Ariana Reines’ Divine Justice. Performance Space New York. New York, NY. 2022.

Camera Assistant & Film Colorist, Angela Featherstone’s L’Etranger Short Film. Los Angeles, CA. 2022.

Exhibition & Sound Design, Alison O’Daniel’s I Felt People Dancing. Kunsthalle Osnabrück. Osnabrück, DE. 2021.

Curatorial Assistant, Alison O’Daniel, Hearing Aids. McEvoy Foundation for the Arts. San Francisco, CA. 2021.

Post-Production Assistant, Alison O’Daniel’s The Tuba Thieves Feature Film. Los Angeles, CA. 2021.

Graphic & Motion Designer, Ariana Reines’ Invisible College. Virtual. Since 2020.

Video Producer, Northside Media Group. Los Angeles, CA / Brooklyn, NY. 2017.

Art Director, Zealot Networks. Venice, CA. 2015-2016.

Performance Documentation, Krysten Cunningham’s Under/Over. Human Resources. Los Angeles, CA. 2014.

Sculpture Studio Assistant, Krysten Cunningham. Los Angeles, CA. 2013-2015.

Production Assistant, Alison O’Daniel’s The Tuba Thieves Feature Film. Los Angeles, CA. 2013-2014.

Video Editor, Jonas N.T. Becker’s End(s) of the World. Shulamit Gallery. Venice, CA. 2013.

Video Production Assistant, UCLA Physics Lab. Los Angeles, CA. 2013.




Significant
Projects
QuorumQuorum, publishing & exhibition platform with Karolina Lavergne. Los Angeles, CA / Virtual. Since 2021.

DIS-PLAY.XYZ, a virtual presence and live piece of art with Delia Jürgens, Tarik Kentouche. Los Angeles, CA / Virtual - DE. 2019-2020. 

BODYSPILL, MFA thesis exhibition. Art Center College of Design. Pasadena, CA. 2018.




Group Exhibitions 
Grief and Grace, with Karolina Lavergne and Alex B. Williamson. QuorumQuorum. 
Other Places Art Fair South. Escondido, CA. 2025.

A Container for Valuable Liquid. QuorumQuorum. Other Places Art Fair. San Pedro, CA. 2025.

One Hundred Percent
. Curated by Aram Moshayedi organized by Kristina Kite. Los Angeles, CA. 2025.

“They are alive like I am, but just differently”, with Alex Patrick Dyck, Delia Jurgens, William Kim, and Karolina Lavergne. QuorumQuorum. Other Places / 他の場所, organized by K. Knittle and Yoyogi Party Picnic. Tokyo, JP. 2024. 

Edgewalkers. QuorumQuorum. Other Places Art Fair. San Pedro, CA. 2024.

A Room of One’s Own? Curated by Karolina Lavergne. QuorumQuorum. San Pedro, CA. 2023. 

Brief and Spectacular. Curated by Elizabeth Folk. Scranch. Twentynine Palms, CA. 2023.

“When I consider everything that grows.” QuorumQuorum. San Pedro, CA. 2022.

Creaturely. Curated by David Moore. Scranch. Twentynine Palms, CA. 2022.

The All Else,
with Alexa Almany and Karolina Lavergne. QuorumQuorum. Other Places Art Fair. San Pedro, CA. 2021.

Nausicaä-Painting Over the Atlantic,
with with Delia Jürgens, Carlotta Drinkewitz, Tarik Kentouche, and Karolina Lavergne. Curated by Haris Giannouras. Galerie Clages. Cologne, DE. 2021.

Touchless Touching. Curated by Kathie Halfin. The Hive Art Community. Brooklyn, NY / Virtual. 2020. 

The Day That Dawns For You, Will Also Dawn For Me. Scranch.
Twentynine Palms, CA / Virtual. 2020.

Diaries. DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Los Angeles, CA - Hannover, DE. 2020.

“I didn’t know about the inside of me.” Meridian Exhibitions. Los Angeles, CA / Virtual. 2020.

"Everything I want to say to the world right now." Curated by Andrea Huber Gutierrez. Meridian Exhibitions. Los Angeles, CA. 2020.

The Coming Community. DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Braunschweig University of Art. Braunschweig, DE. 2020.

La Piedra y El Pescador, with Marcus Zúñiga. Descale Space. 
Malibu, CA. 2019.

Falling off the Edges. DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Gifhorner Schweiz, DE. 2019.

SCREEN. DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Billy Jacob Projects. Hannover, DE. 2019.

"And I was feeling alive."
Curated by by Andrea Huber Gutierrez. Meridian Exhibitions. Los Angeles, CA. 2019.

TOUCH. DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Other Places Art Fair. San Pedro, CA. 2019.

Can we ever be free? DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Herbstausstellung Kunstverein Hannover.
Hannover, DE. 2018.

Some Ruins. Curated Chris Hanke. Scranch. Twentynine Palms, CA. 2018.

Amplified Presence. Curated Chris Hanke. Scranch. Twentynine Palms, CA. 2017.

One Woman Shows Animating the Archive: The Woman's Building.
Organized by Cindy Rehm. Pieter Space. Los Angeles, CA. 2017.

Kenopsia. Art Center MFA. Far Bazaar at Cerritos College. Norwalk, CA. 2017.

Refresh. Curated by Adam Stamp. Galerie La Croix. Pasadena, CA. 2016.

The Toy Train Show. Trunk Gallery. Mar Vista, CA. 2015.

Everything Will Happen. Curated by Alex Sanchez. One of Us Gallery. Los Angeles, CA. 2015.

Alien-Tears. Curated by Svetlana Durel. Gallery El Camino. Westchester, CA. 2015.

Plastic Growl Howl. Curated by Richard Andres. Trunk Gallery. Mar Vista, CA. 2015.

The Hilltop Show, with Kelly Wall. Santa Monica, CA. 2014.

House Cooling. Curated by Jules Marasa. Westchester, CA. 2014.

“We are making people's days as much as we are ruining them!” Otis BFA Exhibition. Los Angeles, CA. 2013.

Head Trauma for Meg Cranston. Otis College of Art and Design. Los Angeles, CA.2013.

Head Dress Rehearsal, with Chris Wilder. Otis College of Art and Design. Bolsky Gallery. Los Angeles, CA. 2012.

Silent Night Show, with Kelly Wall. Santa Monica, CA. 2012.

Absolute(ly). Curated by Amy Adler. Otis Fine Arts Juried Exhibition. Los Angeles, CA. 2012.




Professional Bibliography 

Dress Book. QuorumQuorum. Los Angeles, CA. 2025.

Holding Hands, with William Kim. Los Angeles, CA / Bushwick, NY. 2024.

A Less Physical Body. DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Editorial notes by Delia Jürgens. Los Angeles, CA - DE. 2017-2024. 

Body Threads, with Karolina Lavergne. QuorumQuorum. Los Angeles, CA. 2022.

Thought Provoker. Voyage LA Magazine. 2018.

The Circumnavigation of a Maelstrom Thesis. MFA Thesis. Art Center College of Design. Pasadena, CA. 2018.

"Malibu Pioneer's Artwork Converge Generations are Bonded...," Malibu Surfside News. Malibu, CA. 2009.


Press
"Their studios burned. Their art was destroyed...", by Lois Beckett.The Guardian. 2025.

Nausicaä-Painting Over the Atlantic, Contemporary Art Library. 2021.

Meet Delia Jürgens, Jessica Dillon, Tarik Kentouche of DIS-PLAY. Voyage LA Magazine. 2019.

"Survival of the Artist: Making space for Other Places", by Virginia Broersma. The Long Beach Post. 2019.

"A Showcase of Hard-to-Categorize Art Projects in San Pedro", by Matt Stromberg. Hyperallergic.2019. 

"Otis students meet Palau leadership", Ti Belau. Koror, Palau. 2012.               


Catalogs, Zines, JournalsCradle Zine. Edited by Ching Ching Cheng. Red Hen Press. Pasadena, CA. 2024.

One of the Dozens Anthology. Edited by Derek Denckla. Praxinoscope. Los Angeles, CA. 2024.

this table’s too long to hold hands. Edited by Sean T. Randolph. Gattopardo. Los Angeles, CA. 2023.

Hours of the Day Anthology. Edited by Derek Denckla, Praxinoscope. Los Angeles, CA. 2023.

Flores de Rua. Edited by Andrea Huber Gutierrez. Open Hearts Lisboa. Lisbon, PT. 2022.

CATS 200 images and 2 videos celebrating our relationship with divinity. Dito Publishing. Rome, IT. 2022.

Dreamhouse, with Karolina Lavergne. Edited by Cindy Rehm. HEXENTEXTE. Los Angeles, CA. 2022.

ti-TCR 19 on ritual, with Karolina Lavergne. The Capilano Review. Vancouver, CA / Virtual. 2021.

Tower Songs Zine. Edited by Juliana Lutz. Invisible College. Virtual. 2021.

DEADTIME Zine. Edited by Jade Rivera. Invisible College. Virtual. 2021.

DIS-PLAY: DIS-PLAY Catalog. Edited by Delia Jürgens. Berlin, DE. 2021.

Rilking Zine. Edited by Marie Ségolène. Invisible College. Virtual. 2020.

From the Particular to the General: The Public "I," with Chris Kraus and Annette Weisser. Pasadena, CA. 2017.

Profusely Sweating Zine. Edited by Richard Andres. Los Angeles, CA. 2016. 


Oral PresentationsItems Lost, with Victoria Franklin-Dillon. One Hundred Percent. Los Angeles, CA. 2025.

Poetry Reading for A Garden Soirée for More Names by Stacie Vos. Glendale, CA. 2024.

Poetry Reading for INVOCATION. Hosted by Maddie Silva. Pasadena, CA. 2024.

Poetry & Performance, with Karolina Lavergne. One of the Dozens. Praxinoscope. Beyond Baroque. Los Angeles, CA. 2022.

Live Voiceover, with Karolina Lavergne. Hours of the Day. Praxinoscope. Poetic Research Bureau. Los Angeles, CA. 2022.

Poetry Reading “When I consider everything that grows.” QuorumQuorum, San Pedro, CA. 2022.

Poetry Reading Dreamhouse LAND's Nomadic Divison for WOMANHOUSE. Hexentexte. Los Angeles, CA. 2022.

Poetry Reading "I didn't know about the inside of me." Meridian Exhibitions. Los Angeles, CA / Virtual. 2020.

Artist Talk Otis College of Art and Design. Los Angeles, CA. 2016.

Panelist for Palau Freedom Memorial. Chised. Oceania TV. Koror, Palau. 2012.


Performance, Site-specific, ScreeningsItems Lost, performance with video, paintings and ephemera with Victoria Franklin-Dillon. One Hundred Percent. Los Angeles, CA. 2025.

(m)otherbody, video screening with Karolina Lavergne. Praxinoscope. North Figueroa Bookshop. Los Angeles, CA. 2024.

Sophie Dupont’s Performing Breath group performance. Praxinoscope. Los Angeles, CA. 2023.

a priori pivot / wet boots, dry river performance. Brief and Spectacular. Scranch. Twentynine Palms, CA. 2023.

(m)otherbody, video + performance with Karolina Lavergne. One of the Dozens. Praxinoscope. Beyond Baroque. Los Angeles, CA. 2022.

Live Life, Watermelons, A.F., video + live voice over with Karolina Lavergne Hours of the Day. Praxinoscope. Poetic Research Bureau. Los Angeles, CA. 2022. 

When I consider everything that grows, poetry + performance. QuorumQuorum. San Pedro, CA. 2022.

Searching the dead brush, performance with Karolina Lavergne. Creaturely. Scranch. Twentynine Palms, CA. 2022.

Touchless Touching, virtual performance. The Hive Art Community. Brooklyn, NY - Virtual. 2020.

Corners, Walls: The Fool, The Surface Pool, performance. The Day That Dawns...Scranch. Twenty-nine Palms, CA - Virtual. 2020.

A Slow Rise, Return to Self, performance. Diaries. DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Los Angeles, CA - DE - Virtual. 2020.

FEELING A LIVE, performance. "Everything I want to say to the world right now." Meridian Exhibitions. Los Angeles, CA. 2020

A LIVE ROCK, virtual performance. The Coming Community DIS-PLAY.XYZ. 2020. Braunschweig University of Art / Braunschweig, DE. 2020.

La Piedra y El Pescador, performance with Marcus Zúñiga’s installation. Descale Space. Malibu, CA. 2019.

Stretch Stream: SCREEN, performance with Sophia Loekenhoff & Eileen Lofink. DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Hauptbahnhof Hanover. Hanover, DE. 2019.

ALIVE FEELING, performance "And I was feeling alive." Meridian Exhibitions. Los Angeles, CA. 2019.

ROCKWATERBODY, durational performance. Bigger Than Us. Scranch. Twentynine Palms, CA. 2019.

TOUCH, installation activation DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Other Places Art Fair. San Pedro, CA. 2019.

STILL, MOVE, virtual performance. Can we ever be free? DIS-PLAY.XYZ. Kunstverein Hanover. FR - Hanover, DE. 2018.






Curatorial Projects







Last Updated 24.10.31
SELECTED WORK







1. THE HANDS OFThe Hands Of, 2026
Silent single-channel video loop with text




2. DEAREST (VULCAN)
Other Places Art Fair South, 2025

Dearest (Vulcan), 2025
Two-channel video featuring edited performance documentation from Found Dance combined with actions, observations, and text; traveling away from the site of loss, processing and transmuting grief. 

Found Dance, 2025
Single-channel video edited documentation from a private performance in the rubble and foundation of a family home lost to fire.


Original sound excerpted from Doom Dubs by Michael Dillon.


3.GRIEF & GRACE
with Alex B. Williamson, Karolina Lavergne, and Victoria Franklin-Dillon.

Grief & Grace is an on-going collaboration exploring the sensation of elimination: detachment, erasure, emptiness, renewal, survival, and recreation. 

QuorumQuorum Zine presented for OPaf South; combining poems by Alex B. Williamson and Lou Dillon, video stills and archival photographs by Karolina Lavergne, an artifact still life by Victoria Franklin-Dillon, and photographs by Lou Dillon. 

Edited and designed by Lou Dillon.



4. ITEMS LOST
with Victoria Franklin-Dillon
One Hundred Percent, 2025 
curated by Aram Moshayedi
Los Angeles, CA

Two Malibu Landscapes, 1973-2015
Oil pastel and oil on canvas

Her Head
, 2025
Single-channel video with diagetic sound and captions examining the severed head from childhood clay bust of the artist’s Mother found in the rubble of their burned home. 

Items Lost, 2025
Performance and installation

Two cross-generational landscapes hung as dyptich with a projected video below. Objects present include father/grandfather’s folding camping stool, two burned lanterns, artist’s sketchbook, and jar of sourdough starter. Mother/daughter artists perform overlapping reading of prose and inventory list in front of the installation mise en scene.





5. DRESS BOOK
BLACKSATINSKINFALL, 2024
A series of performative gestures explore the artist’s relationship to an inherited garment; a black satin cocktail dress from the 1950s. The scenes are set in the forest as a place of questioning origin. 

Forces on the Floor, 2024
Horizon-less landscapes of the forest floor’s deterioration in the early fall emits psychic forces the artist attempts to capture with repetition year after year.

Dress Book, 2025
4x6 booklet inkjet on cardstock, perfect bound

Images are organized like a stack of printed photographs with overlapping edges and repetition mimicking the physical experience of shuffling through standard size photo prints and frame a series of poems which address the garment as an object of contemplation around inherited trauma and femininity. 

The sequence of poems was previously presented orally in a performance with the garment at INVOCATION, 2024. 






6. HOLDING HANDS (THE FOUNTAIN)
that water never shows its edges, 2024
curated by William Kim & Funto Omojola
Bushwick, NY

Holding Hands, 2024 with William Kim
Laminated book on keyring made from video stills from The Fountain, combined with poetry and shared iphone photo exchange between Kim and Dillon.

The Fountain
, 2023
Single-channel video with text.





7. A LESS PHYSICAL BODY
2016-2020

Performance ephemera as cut-up catalog. Made with DIS-PLAY.XYZ. 





8. CHANGING LIVRES
A Live Feeling, 2019
Poem written during preparation for performance for “And I was feeling alive.” Curated by Andrea Huber Gutierrez for Meridian Exhibitions.

Changing Livres
, 2019-2021 
Performative poetry project collating daily impromptu writings in a series of identical 6” x 4.25” hand held folios carried for the duration of the project until each was filled during the 2 year span leading up to the birth of a child and separation of a family. 





9. BODYSPILL
Exhibition announcement + takaway
BODYSPILL, 2018
MFA Thesis Exhibition 






© JESSICA LOUISE DILLON 2026