dan graham

In over five decades of artistic production, Dan Graham (b. 1942, Urbana, USA - d. 2022, New York, USA) became one of the main figures of conceptual art. Through the John Daniels Gallery, founded in 1964, Graham was introduced to several emerging artists of his generation, including Sol LeWitt, Robert Smithson and Donald Judd, who would later become the leading figures of conceptualism and minimalism. Having been in close contact with these movements and influenced by the effervescent artistic scenery of the time, Graham began to develop propositions that engaged with matters of curatorial practices and with a critique of artistic languages including installation, sculpture, performance, photography and video. 

Graham's production is based on the dialogue between art and architecture, and on the debates surrounding the relationship between artworks, urban space and the public within the wider context of mass culture. The artist often intertwines both artistic and intellectual practices—in Homes for America (1966) for example, which was published in ArtsMagazine, Graham documents the growth of New Jersey's (USA) suburbs through a series of photographs and a written essay. Towards the end of the 1970s, his practice took on a stronger tone of critique with his famous series Pavilion. In this body of work, Graham mainly produces mirror glass structures that play with the liminal space that separates architecture, sculpture and the site-specific. His mirror structures—which are either geometric or curvy—trigger a series of thoughts and reflections, both visual and cognitive, about one's surroundings, confounding the interior and the exterior, and subsequently disorienting public perception.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Fashion and Architecture, at Francesca Minini Gallery (2019), in Milan, Italy; Beyond Walls, at Sirius Arts Centre (2018), in Cork, Ireland; New Works By A Small-Town Boy, at Regen Projects, in Los Angeles, USA; Greatest Hits, at Red Brick Museum (2017), in Beijing, China; Works That Are Fun For The Family, at Museum of Contemporary Art (2017), in Zagreb, Croatia. Recent group exhibitions include: Des mots et des choses, at Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain (FRAC) (2019), in Brittany, France; Life to Come, at Metro Pictures Gallery (2019), in New York, USA; Faith Love Hope, at Kunsthaus Graz (2018), in Graz, Austria; Maré, at Filomena Soares Gallery (2018), in Lisbon, Portugal, and I am you, you are too, at Walker Art Center (2017), in Minneapolis, USA. His works are also part of major public collections such as: Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, USA; Inhotim Centro de Arte Contemporanea, Brumadinho, Brazil; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA; Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom; and Whitney Museum, New York, USA, amongst others.