STILL FRIENDS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS: Charles Arnoldi, Ron Cooper, Laddie John Dill September 11 - October 10, 2026
Charles Arnoldi Ron Cooper Laddie John Dill
The colors sink deep into you. The heat of a gouache red. The radiant blue glow of light in a glass tube. The shimmering gold of pearlescent pigment on Plexiglas. The forms and formats as distinct as the techniques. Yet these works of art, large and small, all somehow find their way deep into the body of the viewer - shifting, shaping, answering questions we hadn’t realized needed asking. These works are by three remarkable and renowned artists who emerged out of the California Light and Space movement of the early 1970’s whom Charlotte Jackson met and showed decades ago. As she notes: “In 1987, I curated an exhibition featuring three artists: Charles Arnoldi, Ron Cooper, and Laddie John Dill. Thirty-nine years later, all three are still making art — and still friends. I had forgotten about the 1987 exhibition until Ron Cooper’s registrar found the catalog and sent it to me. That discovery immediately inspired me to bring the three artists together again.” By the time of that 1987 show, the three artists had already known each other for about twenty years. There is a sort of dusty and sun-drenched aura to the stories the three of them tell of their early encounters and artistic nascence. So much so that these stories could almost read like the opening beats of a late 60’s movie filled with cool cars, echoing warehouse studios, and shaggyhaired youths hungrily prowling the wide streets of Los Angeles against the silhouette backdrop of iconic palm trees. Each had found their way both to art and to Los Angeles at a time when several artistic and commercial forces were overlapping in the region. All three spent some amount of time at the famed Chouinard Art Institute during its final years before it was folded fully into what is now Cal Arts. But perhaps it was really Plexiglas that brought them together. Science and technology had birthed burgeoning industries in Southern California, and many new materials were finding their way into the artistic repertoire at that time, including the resins and plastics that so intrigued the Light and Space artists. Plexiglas framing was a brand-new idea and Arnoldi, who had a job at an art framer, came up with the idea of starting Acme Framing in downtown LA. Dill joined him in the venture, while Cooper
was working on his Light Traps, made by spraying layers of resin onto glass, then mounted in Plexiglas boxes. Each of the three artists have worked with a wide variety of techniques and materials. For Charles Arnoldi, early on, this was the gestural 3D Stick paintings and later the Chainsaw paintings which explore negative space. This early work evolved into a diverse range of work in a variety of mediums. Included in this exhibition are examples of his vivid paintings. These works use layers of colors, lines, and shapes to create surprising depths. Inspired by the light filled Ojai Valley where he grew up, Ron Cooper found ways to fill space up with light, to make light nearly substantial, from his early Light Traps to the Plexiglas Bars and Combos he makes to this day. However, for Cooper art is not just one thing; included in the exhibition is a large tin work with a title that is pure poetry: Twelve of the Infinite Gods and Goddesses of Intoxication and Ecstasy, the smell of a flower, the touch of a lover, the AHA of an idea. Dill’s work initially worked directly with light in the form of his Light Sentences, neon tubes using alternating segments of colors. Here each color translates like a phoneme or word to create compound visual meanings. Dill also expanded his repertoire of media to include metal, concrete, glass works, and large sculptural installations. Included in this show are several of his etched and shaped aluminum pieces which capture light in their curving lines. Although each found unique ways to explore the themes and artistic questions that formed the zeitgeist of the times, there are commonalities persistent among all three artists: from the physicality and dynamism of their work, to their intensive work ethic and a restless drive that keeps each of them exploring, changing, and working daily, into their 80’s. Finally, each of them, in their own ways, exhibit that quintessence of the work which emerged out of L.A. at that time - art that at its core investigates perceptual phenomena. Come for the work itself. For its power and changeability and joy. But, if possible, take it one step further and come to learn about the history of these three friends and the art they make. - Michaela Kahn, PhD
Laddie John Dill, Illuminated Fold from the Light Catcher Series, 2026, 6061-T4 aircraft aluminum, welded and polished, 36 x 24 inches
Laddie John Dill, Caught in Reflection from the Light Catcher Series, 2026, 6061-T4 aircraft aluminum, welded and polished, 48 x 48 inches Image courtesy of Antonio Valverde
Laddie John Dill, Kinetic Lens from the Light Catcher Series, 2021, 6061-T4 aircraft aluminum, welded and polished, 50 x 36 inches Following installation image courtesy of Antonio Valverde
Laddie John Dill, Dawn Rising from the Light Sentence Series, 2026, glass, Argon gas, mercury, electrodes, wiring, transformer, 80 x 0.5 inches Image courtesy of Antonio Valverde
Ron Cooper, Smoking Mirror (Look in here and see your shadow side) Texcatlipoca, 2023, polished obsidian, 4.75 x 4.75 x 0.5 inches
Ron Cooper, Twelve of the Centzon Totochtin (Four Hundred) Infinite Gods and Goddesses of Intoxication and Ecstasy, 1990, sign painters’ enamel on lithographed tin, 70.5 x 153 inches
Ron Cooper, Gabe, 2026, pearlescent pigment in automotive resin on plexiglass, 48 x 3.625 x 3.625 inches
Ron Cooper, Luchita, 2024/2025, pearlescent pigment in automotive lacquer on Plexiglass, 48 x 3.625 x 3.625 inches
Ron Cooper, Looking at Marcel, 1989/2023, glazed ceramic, signed, numbered, and dated 87/150, 66.5 x 5.25 X 4 inches
Charles Arnoldi, Untitled, 1981, acrylic on wood block, 13 x 10 x 8 inches
Charles Arnoldi, Against the Grain, 2026, acrylic on canvas, 78 x 108 inches
Charles Arnoldi, Untitled, 2026, repurposed mixed paint, dried and compressed together, 10 x 8 inches
Charles Arnoldi, Ringing Silence, 1983, acrylic on poplar, 58 x 48 x 4 inches
Charles Arnoldi, Untitled, 2026, gouache on paper, 12 x 9 inches
Charles Arnoldi, Untitled, 2026, gouache on paper, 7 x 10 inches
Ron Cooper, Light Trap 8305, 1983, polyester resin, plexiglass, fiberglass, 24 x 24 inches
Laddie John Dill, Radiant Meridian from the Light Sentence Series, 1979, glass, Argon gas, mercury, electrodes, wiring, transformer, 80 x 0.5 inches Image courtesy of Antonio Valverde
Laddie John Dill, Quiet Radiance I from the Light Catcher Series, 2026, 6061-T4 aircraft aluminum, welded and polished, 18 x 18 inches
Laddie John Dill, Quiet Radiance II from the Light Catcher Series, 2026, 6061-T4 aircraft aluminum, welded and polished, 18 x 18 inches
Laddie John Dill Illuminated Fold from the Light Catcher Series, 2026 6061-T4 aircraft aluminum, welded and polished 36 x 24 in. LJD008 Click to inquire about this work
Laddie John Dill Caught in Reflection from the Light Catcher Series, 2026 6061-T4 aircraft aluminum, welded and polished 48 x 48 in. LJD009 Click to inquire about this work
Laddie John Dill Kinetic Lens from the Light Catcher Series, 2021 6061-T4 aircraft aluminum, welded and polished 50 x 36 in. LJD010 Click to inquire about this work
Laddie John Dill Dawn Rising from the Light Sentence Series, 2026 glass, Argon gas, mercury, electrodes, wiring, transformer 80 x 0.5 in. LJD003 Click to inquire about this work
Ron Cooper Smoking Mirror (Look in here and see your shadow side) Texcatlipoca, 2023 polished obsidian 4.75 x 4.75 x 0.5 in. RC052 Click to inquire about this work
$12,500
$30,000
$25,000
$35,000
$4,000
Ron Cooper Twelve of the Centzon Totochtin (Four Hundred) Infinite Gods and Goddesses of Intoxication and Ecstasy, 1990 sign painters’ enamel on lithographed tin 70.5 x 153 in. RC087 Click to inquire about this work Ron Cooper Gabe, 2026 pearlescent pigment in automotive resin on plexiglass 48 x 3.625 x 3.625 in. RC086 Click to inquire about this work
Ron Cooper Luchita, 2024/2025 pearlescent pigment in automotive resin on plexiglass 48 x 3.625 x 3.625 in. RC057 Click to inquire about this work
Ron Cooper Looking at Marcel, 1989/2023 glazed ceramic, signed, numbered, and dated 87/150 66.5 x 5.25 x 4 in. RC085 Click to inquire about this work
Charles Arnoldi Untitled, 1981 acrylic on wood block 13 x 10 x 8 in. CA140 Click to inquire about this work
Collection of the Artist
$18,000
$18,000
$8,000
$55,000
Charles Arnoldi Against the Grain, 2026 acrylic on canvas 78 x 108 in. CA426 Click to inquire about this work
Charles Arnoldi Untitled, 2026 repurposed mixed paint, dried and compressed together 10 x 8 in. CA428 Click to inquire about this work
Charles Arnoldi Ringing Silence, 1983 acrylic on poplar 58 x 48 x 4 in. CA427 Click to inquire about this work
Charles Arnoldi Untitled, 2026 gouache on paper 12 x 9 in. CA421 Click to inquire about this work
Charles Arnoldi Untitled, 2026 gouache on paper 7 x 10 in. CA424 Click to inquire about this work
$110,000
$2,500
$98,000
$4,400
$3,500
Ron Cooper Light Trap 8305, 1983 polyester resin, plexiglass, fiberglass 24 x 24 in. RC039 Click to inquire about this work
Laddie John Dill Radiant Meridian from the Light Sentence Series, 1979 glass, Argon gas, mercury, electrodes, wiring, transformer 80 x 0.5 in. LJD004 Click to inquire about this work
Laddie John Dill Quiet Radiance I from the Light Catcher Series, 2026 6061-T4 aircraft aluminum, welded and polished 18 x 18 in. LJD006 Click to inquire about this work
Laddie John Dill Quiet Radiance II from the Light Catcher Series, 2026 6061-T4 aircraft aluminum, welded and polished 18 x 18 in. LJD007 Click to inquire about this work
$85,000
$45,000
$9,500
$9,500
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