Biography of Dan Graham
It would be absurd to view the state of art, art criticism, music or architecture in the United States without mentioning the name Dan Graham (born 1942 in Urbana, US). Graham works as an art dealer, photographer, filmmaker, critic, producer, and writer whose seemingly never-ending vision of interlinking and exploring various disciplines defined and changed the way one perceives a cultural system. Graham's work is inspired by the readings of anthropologist Margaret Mead as well as psychoanalysis inherited from the Frankfurt School via Herbert Marcuse. In 1964 he became the director of John Daniels Gallery in New York, where he put together Sol LeWitt's first solo show. His attitude towards art and artists can be described in a quote: "All artists are alike. They dream of doing something that's more social, more collaborative, more real than art."
In 1966, Dan Graham produced a series of photographs titled Homes of America, which dealt with New Jersey's housing situation and can be seen as an important part of his oeuvre. One of his famous edition photographs is called Woman in Antwerp Zoo and was produced in 2001; it came in an edition of 150. In 2013 Graham made an untitled, rather abstract series of sketch-like drawings in an edition of 10. He can be considered a conceptual artist whose focus lies on cultural phenomena. Graham repetitively incorporates video, performance, glass, and mirror structures. A prominent local example is his Pavilion – an oval glass and metal installation at HWK Mitte Berlin. Dan Graham lives and works in New York.
