Dan Graham | |
---|---|
Born |
Urbana, Illinois |
March 31, 1942
Nationality | United States |
Education | Self-taught |
Known for | Installation art, Sculpture, Photography, Writing, Video art, Performance art, Education, Art critic |
Notable work | Performer/Audience/Mirror, Rock My Religion, Two-way Mirror Cylinder Inside Cube, Don't Trust Anyone Over 30, Yin/Yang |
Movement | Minimalism, Conceptual art |
Awards | Coutts Contemporary Art Foundation Award, Skowhegan Medal for Mixed Media, French Vermeil Medal |
Daniel "Dan" Graham (born March 31, 1942) is an American artist, writer, and curator.
Graham grew up in New Jersey. In 1964 he began directing the John Daniels Gallery in New York, where he put on Sol LeWitt's first one-man show, and in groups shows, exhibited works of Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Robert Smithson. Like these artists, Graham considered himself a writer-artist, publishing essays and reviews on rock music, Dwight D. Eisenhower's paintings, and Dean Martin's television show. His earliest work dealt with the magazine page, predating but often associated with Conceptual art. His work often focuses on cultural phenomena, and incorporates photography, video, performance art, glass and mirror structures. He lives and works in New York.
Dan Graham was born in Urbana, Illinois, the son of a chemist and an educational psychologist. When he was 3, Graham moved from Illinois to Winfield Township, New Jersey, and then to nearby Westfield when he was 14. He had no formal education after high school and is self-educated. During his teens, reading included Margaret Mead, Claude Lévi-Strauss, the literary critic Leslie Fiedler and the French Nouveau Roman writers. He wanted to be a writer, loved rock music which he wrote about critically and because he couldn't afford art supplies his early art took the form of magazine "articles".
Graham began his art career in 1964, at the age of 22, when he founded the John Daniels Gallery in New York. He worked there until 1965, when he started creating his own conceptual pieces. During his time at the gallery, he exhibited works by minimalist artists such as Carl André, Sol LeWitt—LeWitt's first solo gallery show,Donald Judd, Robert Smithson, Dan Flavin and Ward Jackson.