My passion has never been art. It’s always been architecture, tourism, rock and roll, and rock and roll writing. — ARTnews
Dan Graham, an unclassifiable artist whose sculptures, performances, and conceptual pieces played on viewers’ perception of themselves, the people around them, and their environments, has died at 79. His four galleries—Lisson Gallery, Marian Goodman Gallery, 303 Gallery, and Regen Projects—said in a statement that he passed away this weekend in New York. A cause of death was not announced.
His output was vast and varied. It spanned monumental glass sculptures and small-scaled text pieces, tricky performances about surveillance, and razor-sharp videos about rock ‘n’ roll.
Dan Graham was born in Urbana, Illinois, on March 31, 1942, and brought up in Winfield, New Jersey. (He was an Aries, and often made sure to mention that in interviews.) His mother was an educational psychologist whose field of work instilled an interest in humans’ understanding of space early on. Graham never received a formal education after high school, though he had a tendency to act like a sponge, soaking up theories by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Margaret Mead, Jean-Paul Sartre, Walter Benjamin, and more in his early years. He had initially set out to become a writer.
4 Comments
I always found him, and Robert Irwin, much more interesting than Turrell. I think, for me at least, the self was more evident and less ponderous.
I agree. Dan Graham went into the essence of situations and their ideas. His favorite architect was Robert Venturi. I was so lucky to hang out with him since I was an architecture student and different times over the years. The architecture world hardly warmed up or understood him other than on superficial levels. But that had no effect on him. Exactly twelve or thirteen years ago I wrote this short review of his show at LACMA. It had some insights into his work as I understood them. AN published it but they changed the title so I never link it to the magazine. https://elseplace.blogspot.com...
sorry, i put the wrong link above. https://elseplace.blogspot.com/2009/04/unplugged-review-dan-graham-beyond.html
I agree. Dan Graham went into the essence of situations and their ideas. His favorite architect was Robert Venturi. I was so lucky to hang out with him since I was an architecture student and different times over the years. The architecture world hardly warmed up or understood him other than on superficial levels. But that had no effect on him.
Exactly twelve or thirteen years ago I wrote this short review of his show at LACMA. It had some insights into his work as I understood them. Architects Newspaper published it but they changed the title so I never link it to the magazine.
https://elseplace.blogspot.com...
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