Biography

The work of Tony DeLap reveals an ongoing interest in the art of illusion and the subjective nature of perception. By bringing together his lifelong fascination with magic and his love of materials, DeLap creates dazzling works of art that elegantly fuse painting and sculpture. The artist demonstrates an overriding concern for formal values, meticulous craftsmanship, and playful experimentation as he expertly weaves illusion and artifice into works that actively engage the viewer as they seemingly shift in space.

DeLap was born in Oakland, California, in 1927 and grew up in the nearby city of Richmond. Throughout his youth, his parents encouraged him to pursue his varied interests, which included building model airplanes and performing magic tricks. Following high school, he studied art, illustration, and graphic design at several Bay Area colleges, including the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. In 1949, he moved to Southern California and enrolled at the Claremont Colleges, where he obtained a solid background in art making under the direction of artist Henry Lee McFee. In 1951, DeLap returned to the Bay Area, set up his studio in Oakland, and worked a variety of jobs including trade show exhibition design, color consulting, freelance graphic design, and architectural planning.1 Through these experiences DeLap developed a range of skills that continue to inform his work. In 1964, at the urging of John Coplans—an artist, critic, and founding editor of Artforum magazine—DeLap accepted a teaching position in the newly formed art department of the University of California, Irvine, where he continued to teach until his retirement in 1991.

DeLap has long been associated with minimalism, a style characterized by an interest in reducing forms to simple geometry; however, his interest in craftsmanship and his desire to create an active exchange with the viewer has distinguished the artist from the movement. The rich, satiny surfaces of his works have also evoked references to West Coast “Finish Fetish,” a movement in which artists such as Craig Kaufman and John McCracken created seductive, glossy sculptures from translucent plastics and automotive finishes. While DeLap incorporates elements of these aesthetics, his work ultimately differentiates itself from that movement, as well. He combines elements of painting and sculpture to create unusual hybrids that are deceptively simple, revealing the complexity of their forms, shapes, and colors only after they have been viewed from every angle.

Throughout the past several decades, the artist has paid close attention to the edges of his work. Focusing first on the exposed rim of the canvas and then manipulating the overall shape of the painting as if it were a sculpture, the artist eventually began to visually blend painting and sculpture in an innovative and captivating way. In Tanagra (1990), DeLap constructs a vivid red disk, punctuated by a masterfully crafted wooden arch that sweeps down and outward. In contrast to the aluminum disk, which lies flat against the wall, the sweeping tail-like appendage juts out into space, increasing in width and depth as it curves away from the red circle. The surface of the work is cool and smooth, recalling the aesthetic of Finish Fetish, while the bright red hue seems to radiate with intensity. The immaculately constructed wooden arm recalls a Möbius strip, an invention of 19th-century mathematician and astronomer August Ferdinand Möbius, in which a band of paper is twisted once with both ends attached so that when viewed from multiple angles the object offers an infinite set of configurations.2 Like the Möbius strip, DeLap’s work often reveals contradictions and remains closely associated with illusion and magic; just as the twisted paper seems to change according to one’s perception, likewise DeLap’s work shifts according to the angle in which it is viewed. Thus, DeLap’s pieces set up intriguing contradictions in which viewers are continually mystified by the dichotomy of expectation and reality. —L.W.

1. Bruce Guenther, “The Shadow on the Wall,” Tony DeLap, exh. cat. (Newport Beach, Calif.: Orange County Museum of Art, 2000), 15.
2. Mike McGee, “Tony DeLap: A Brief History of the House of the Magician,” Tony DeLap: An Installation of Reconstructed Works from 1967–1979 (Fullerton, Calif.: Art Gallery, California State University, Fullerton, 1994), 20.

(SJMA Selections publication, 2004)


While Tony DeLap has lived in Southern California for the past forty years, he was born in 1927 in Oakland and grew up in the Bay Area. After high school he studied art, illustration, and graphic design at several Bay Area colleges, including the San Francisco Academy of Art. DeLap then studied at the Claremont Colleges, where he received a solid background in artmaking. He returned to the Bay Area, where he lived for over a decade, until he secured a teaching position at the University of California, Irvine. DeLap retired from UC Irvine in 1991, but continues to work in his Corona del Mar studio. His work has been exhibited extensively, both nationally and internationally. Early this summer, SJMA was a venue for DeLap’s first retrospective exhibition, which was organized by the Orange County Museum of Art. (SJMA Collections Committee, 2001)

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