LOU D’ELIA

Assemblage Artist  |  Portrait Photographer  |  Curator  |  Clinical Neuropsychologist (Ret.)

Santa Monica, California

www.LouDelia.com

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work as an assemblage artist is rooted in the belief that objects are witnesses: silent keepers of history, memory, and identity. I work primarily with found materials, such as discarded wood foundry molds, male physique photography, religious iconography and symbolic elements that together form layered narratives about gender role expectations, desire, vulnerability, and the human condition.

My father was a master patternmaker who built wood foundry molds that once gave form to the machines of the industrial age. In my work, these discarded molds act as relics and frameworks, reflecting personal history and honoring the dignity of labor. The other visual thread running through my work comes from vintage male physique photography, particularly from the 1950s: fragments of a hidden history that speak to resilience, coded communication, and the enduring beauty of the male form. I focus on creating discrete, self-contained works intended as concentrated reliquaries of meaning.

My approach owes a debt to the great assemblage artists, Ed Kienholz in particular, who encouraged me to pursue my art.  

EDUCATION

Undergraduate: UCLA

Doctorate, UCLA

NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship, Neuropsychogeriatrics, Geffen-UCLA School of Medicine

NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship, Clinical Neuropsychology, Geffen-UCLA School of Medicine

PROFESSIONAL CAREER

Clinical Geroneuropsychologist and Psychotherapist in Private Practice (Retired)

Co-Director, Neuropsychology Assessment Laboratory (Adult and Senior-Adult Divisions), Geffen-UCLA School of Medicine. (Retired)

Freelance Portrait Photographer (concurrent with graduate studies), including editorial assignments for UCLA Graduate School of Education Network Magazine and film/entertainment publications

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Some Assemblage Required  —  California Heritage Museum, Santa Monica, CA. April – November 2019.

Project: Warhol  —  California Heritage Museum, Santa Monica, CA. April – November 2019. Lou D’Elia’s 1979 Warhol portrait studies and collaborations with fine art painters Gus Harper and Gino Perez.

Impersistence of Memory  —  Venice Art Crawl, presented by Venice Chamber of Commerce, curated by Sunny Bak. March 17, 2016.

Black & White and Blurred  —  The Gallery at Essentia, Santa Monica, CA. June 28 – September 30, 2014. Lou D’Elia assemblages and Gino Perez paintings.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Some Assemblage Required  —  California Heritage Museum, Santa Monica, CA. June 2026.

Splash  —  Venice Art Crawl, presented by Venice Chamber of Commerce and Redd Starr Productions, curated by Bobbi Bennett. July 21, 2016.

Bull Show  —  Santa Barbara Tennis Club, Santa Barbara, CA, curated by Susan Tibbles. September 14 – October 7, 2012. Awarded “Best Emerging Artist” for the artwork “Role. Model.” (First exhibition of assemblage artwork.)

Art Night at the Castle Green  —  Pasadena, CA. Presented by the Light Bringer Project, October 12, 2007. (First exhibition of photography.)

CURATORIAL WORK

The Gallery at Essentia, Santa Monica, CA (January 2015 – July 2017). Co-founded with Michael D. Salazar. Curated numerous solo exhibitions featuring works by Gus Harper, Robert Stivers, Gabriel Figueroa, Bobbi Bennett, Susan Tibbles, Sunny Bak, Noureddine El Warari, and Gino Perez.

Lights! Camera! Glamour! The Photography of George Hurrell  —  The Walt Disney Family Museum, San Francisco, CA. February 11 – June 29, 2015. Guest Curator.

Lights, Camera, Glamour: The Photography of George Hurrell  —  California Heritage Museum, Santa Monica, CA. January 8 – June 28, 2008. Co-curated with Tobi Smith.

The Sun Deck Gallery aboard the RMS Queen Mary, Long Beach, CA. Co-founded with Michael D. Salazar in 2006 (13,000 sq. ft., first art gallery devoted to fine art photography in Long Beach). Gallery designed by Michael D. Salazar, Architect. Exhibitions curated by Lou D’Elia:

“Rockin’ Hollywood: The Photography of Michael Childers”  —  June 15 – September 6, 2007. Over 30,000 in attendance.

“Woman: A Celebration”  —  65 images of 19th and 20th century women by the world’s greatest photographers. September 15, 2007 – March 8, 2008. Co-curated with Peter Fetterman.

“Lights! Camera! Glamour! The Photography of George Hurrell”  —  July 13, 2006 – January 31, 2007.

Lights, Camera, Glamour: George Hurrell at 100  —  Palm Springs Museum of Art, Palm Springs, CA. December 7, 2004 – March 20, 2005. Co-curated with Christine Giles.

INSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION

City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, LGBT Heritage Month Calendar and Cultural Guide  —  Featured visual artist: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026).

“Best Emerging Artist” Award  —  Bull Show, Santa Barbara Tennis Club, 2012, for the artwork “Role. Model.”

MUSEUM AND INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Founding Organizing Member, Photography Council, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Trustee, Flight Test Historical Foundation, Edwards Air Force Base, CA (16+ years as Member of the Board of Directors).

Lou D’Elia Collection, George Hurrell photography archive housed at the USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND PRESS

British Cinematographer, Issue 104, March 2021, page 48. “Congratulations, Sir Roger!” Photo portrait of Sir Roger Deakins, CBE, BSC, ASC with Lady James Ellis Deakins.

Adelante, The LGBT Latino Magazine, May 2019. “Featured Artist: Lou D’Elia,” Volume 22, Issue 12, pages 16–17.

Santa Monica Observer, July 22–28, 2019. “Lou D’Elia: California Heritage Museum Artist Exhibit,” by Mary Leipziger, page 2.

Coveteur, March 23, 2018. D’Elia’s Andy Warhol photography/painting collaboration with Gino Perez featured in profile of Patty Perreira (Barton-Perreira).

Walt Disney Family Museum Monograph, 2015. “The Disney–Hurrell Connection,” page 18, by Lou D’Elia, exhibition guest curator. Virginia Postrel’s “Hurrell’s Glamour” features interviews with D’Elia.

Santa Monica Mirror, February 8, 2015. “Hometown Heroes. Medicine & Arts: Richard Willis, Daniela Schweitzer, Lou D’Elia.”

The Argonaut, April 16, 2015, page 34. “Finding Art in Odd Places,” by Kathy Leonardo.

Mario Testino Museum MATE Exhibition Catalog, September–December 2014, Lima, Peru. Photography captions written by Lou D’Elia.

The Atlantic, July/August 2007. “Starlight and Shadow,” by Virginia Postrel. Features interview with collector and curator Lou D’Elia.

Cinefantastique, 1981–1982. Three issues featuring D’Elia’s photographs of director Jack Arnold, actor Donald Pleasance, producer Debra Hill, and Introvision team.

NOTABLE PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT SUBJECTS

Andy Warhol (1979 multi-portrait studies), Alfred Hitchcock, Sir Roger Deakins CBE, Donald Pleasance, Debra Hill, Jack Arnold, Wally Amos (founder of Famous Amos cookies), and others.

COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

Lou D’Elia Collection (George Hurrell Archive)  —  USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Pancho Barnes Trust Estate Archive  —  350-linear-foot archive, fully digitized. Custodian through California Lifestyle Brands, Inc.

REPRESENTATION

Photography: Peter Fetterman Gallery, Santa Monica.  

Assemblage: Mike Salazar, agent, Santa Monica, California

www.LouDelia.com  |  Contact via website