Richard Dial American, b. 1955

Overview
American Idol, 2006
American Idol, 2006

"In an art world that frequently depends on explanatory text, conceptual framing, and written argument to justify what hangs on the wall or sits atop plinths, Dial asserts something straightforward: the object is enough."

 

- Robell Awake

Richard Dial (b. 1955) is an American artist known for turning metal furniture into anthropomorphic sculptures. Trained as a machinist, he founded Dial Metal Patterns in Alabama in 1984, where he and his father, Thornton Dial and brother, Matte Dial, made wrought-iron furniture. Using these skills, he began creating art from industrial materials. Dial's sculptures often look like chairs but are not meant for comfort. Instead, they present figuratively dynamic constructions that explore themes of power, history, family, and African American experience. Inspired by traditions where chairs symbolize authority, he transformed them into figures that question leadership, religion, social systems and the ideals of the American Dream. 
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Biography
Richard Dial
Richard Dial

Richard Dial (b. 1955, Bessemer, Alabama) has exhibited at the Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, Ohio), the Michael C. Carlos Museum (Atlanta, GA), the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (Kalamazoo, MI), MARCH (New York, NY), Maus Contemporary (Birmingham, AL), the Museum of Art (Tallahassee, FL), and the Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, OH), among others. His work resides in the collections of the American Folk Art Museum (New York, NY), the Birmingham Museum of Art (Birmingham, AL) the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, TX) and the Souls Grown Deep Foundation (Atlanta, GA).

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