Originally made for an interior space in the headquarters of the Boston Consulting Group in downtown Los Angeles, Guy Dill named this sculpture after one of the designers named Mohammed Aref. They had worked together on several other projects, and Dill wanted to acknowledge Aref for being a consistent champion of his sculpture. Following the relocation of the company to a lower floor in the building that could not accommodate the large size of the sculpture, Dill regained ownership of the Mohammed’s Circle, and gave the work new life by restoring it with a black, monochromatic finish.
Guy Dill’s Mohammed’s Circle, now often shortened to M Circle, is an example of how sculpture can convey movement without actually possessing any kinetic elements. Born and raised in Malibu, California, Dill received a BA from the Institute of Art, Los Angeles, after serving in United States Coast Guard during the mid-1960s. Dill is most well-known for his large-scale sculptures in bronze and marble that like Mohammed’s Circle, transform rigid materials into lithe, graceful constructions of sinuous lines, curves, and swoops. Though abstract, geometric constructions, Dill’s sculpture possesses an almost anthropomorphic presence, as though comprised of graceful bodies in motion, elegantly dancing. Here, Dill combines circular slabs and rounded pieces of painted carbon steel to infuse the work with an energetic, internal rhythm.