A Young, But Rising Star

At just 23, Dietrich Sieling has what many artists spend decades chasing: gallery shows, critical acclaim, enchanted collectors, and the ability to call himself a full-time working artist.  

Catching Important Eyes

Todd Bockley of Bockley Gallery is Sieling’s representative. 

“I think people are surprised by the imagery and just drawn to it,” Bockley said. “It’s difficult to say why people are drawn to what they like but people do respond very strongly to his work.”

Perhaps it’s in the way Sieling translates his thoughts, fears and observations into visual representations, Bockley suggests. He said he's seen many others similarly struck by the artist's work.

“He creates captivating imagery,” Bockley said. “The work has a visual intelligence to it and a freedom and spontaneity.” 

For Bill Thorburn, a collector, it’s about the rawness and truth in each piece.

“What I love about it is that it’s unfiltered. It comes right from the heart, that’s pretty obvious,” Thorburn said.

It’s a quality easier described than achieved, but Sieling seems to do it effortlessly in his two- and three-dimensional work inspired by everything from local coffee shops to African hoofed animals. 

“He is a really wonderful artist; he is the real deal,” his mother, Shelli Ainsworth said said of her son, a Perpich Center for Arts Education graduate. “But I’m the mom, so my credibility takes a hit.” 

Challenging Preconceptions

Today, you can find a solo display of Sieling’s work in the lobby of The Center for Changing Lives as part of its community arts program, curated by Southwest resident Reggie Prim. With The Center for Changing Lives, home of Lutheran Social Services, Prim curates art exhibits that address important social issues like youth homelessness. 

For this show, Prim said he sought an artist who was “challenging notions about the capabilities of people with developmental disabilities.”

As an artist who was diagnosed with autism at age three, but who, more importantly, creates bold, intriguing work, Sieling embodied the spirit of the show Prim hoped to create. 

“He’s an artist first and foremost,” Prim said. “The fact that he has a developmental disability is not even that interesting. It’s ‘Dietrich Sieling: Artist,’ not ‘Dietrich Sieling: Artist with Autism.’ He’s an extraordinary artist who also happens to have autism.”  

Correction: This article originally misstated the the time of the Oct. 10 event with Prim, Bockley, Ainsworth, and others. The correct time is below. 

The show at The Center for Changing Lives runs Sept. 19 through Oct. 31. From 6 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 10, Prim, Bockley, Ainsworth, Chris Atkins of the MIA's Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program, and a representative of Lutheran Social Services will be speaking about the agency's activism at the gallery.