Dan Graham’s work raced through the decades at the speed of his mind. To speak with the artist was to be swept along by his flow of thoughts and ideas, which covered many disciplines, from music and architecture to sociology and astrology. Similarly, his works take many different forms—such as text, performance, architectural pavilion, and video—but they all share in common the fact that we, the public, are their ultimate subject. They invite us to look at, read, walk across, listen to, and talk about them, while confronting us with fundamental questions: What is the self? How do we relate to one another? Are we conditioned by our environments? What is public and what is private?
Graham did not conceive of Homes for America (displayed in this gallery) as a work of art but as a magazine article. In it, images of prefabricated structures for suburban housing developments echo, not without irony, the so-called Minimal art illustrated in the same publication. Graham’s art truly knew no boundaries. Today we celebrate both his life and work.
Organized by Christophe Cherix, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints, with Danielle Johnson, former Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints.
