Book Description
Since the 1960s, Dan Graham has carved out a unique space in the field of contemporary art, combing his work as an artist and as a critic of architecture and art in a unique fusion of theory and practice. From the outset, Graham engaged seriously with the aesthetic and political ramifications of Structuralism, taking the artist's critical perceptions of reality to an increasingly conceptual level. His early articles grappled with the question of architecture, arguing that behind the high-rise apartment complexes and housing projects spreading over the Western world lay the phenomenon of economic and social rationalization. Since the beginning of the 1970s Graham has pursued these and other observations with installations, videos, films, and large-scale pavilions that serve as thought-models for his critical insights. This catalogue raisonné provides a comprehensive, chronological documentation of 165 works and writings from 1965 until the present day, and includes articles, written sketches, Graham's reports about his artistic activities, art critical essays, film stills, architectural models, pavilions, and video rooms, as well as an extensive bibliography. With essays by preeminent critic/philosophers Benjamin Buchloh and Thierry de Duve, among others, the result is a complete and edifying look at one of the premier artist-scholars of the past thirty years. "I think my works are partly educational and philosophical and partly aesthetic...[they disclose] the necessary social and visual engagement connected with the apprehension of the work of art." -Dan Graham. Hardcover, 384 pages, 8.25 x 11 inches, 100 color and 238 b&w illustrations.
About the author
Born in Urbana, Illinois, in 1942, Dan Graham worked as a galleries and art critic before embarking on his artistic career in 1965. Over the years he has received numerous public commissions in Europe as well as the United States, including the "Children's Pavilion" (1989), designed in collaboration with Jeff Wall, and the "Rooftop Urban Park Project" (1991), a permanent sculptural installation on the roof of the DIA Center in New York. He currently lives and works in New York.
