Dan Graham
03 - 30 Jul 2014
DAN GRAHAM
Tunnel of Love
3 - 30 July 2014
Galleri Nicolai Wallner is pleased to present a solo exhibition of work by Dan Graham, entitled "Tunnel of Love".
Dan Graham is widely considered one of the most significant figures of his time, with the influence he has had on contemporary art extending throughout subsequent generations of artists. Since the mid-1960s, Graham has combined art and architecture, focusing on the ideas of situation and interaction. Working with a minimal aesthetic, his structures become points of convergence through which social elements become paramount.
With "Tunnel of Love", an installation of the same name is placed within the exhibition space. Glass walls are arranged in tandem with each other to form a curved pathway through which the spectator can walk. On either end, the entrances are half blocked, one on the left side and the other on the right, subtly conducting the spectator’s movement as they pass through.
The title of the work is a nod to Graham’s more poetic side, with the idea of how love is represented in the work left open-ended. One way of perhaps understanding it is on an empathetic, interpersonal level. Graham’s works are transcendent, moving beyond the physical form into the realm of the metaphysical. "Tunnel of Love" does not simply become a structure through which our environment is altered, but rather a structure through which our own interpersonal interactions are underlined and explored.
This transformative quality of the work is in part due to Graham’s use of glass. The clarity of its surface becomes not only a way of either looking in or looking out of the structure, but also a reflective surface through which one’s own image can be seen. This dual effect of looking at the other and the self allows the spectator both compare and contrast. The glass allows for observation, but it also creates a division as it acts as a barrier between inside and outside the installation. As such, the ability to move freely through and around the installation becomes essential, as each new position the spectator takes in relation to the work and to other spectators creates new experiences, and reveals more knowledge about how we interact both with ourselves and with the other.
Earlier this year, Dan Graham was commissioned to do a site-specific pavilion for the prestigious Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden at The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York in collaboration with Günther Vogt.
Dan Graham (b.1942, USA) has shown extensively around the world, with notable recent solo exhibitions at De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art (Tilburg), Turner Contemporary (London), Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), Hayward Gallery (London), and Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) among others. Graham also has permanent public installations in various cities, including New York, London, Basel, Brussels, Como, Cologne and Tokyo.
Tunnel of Love
3 - 30 July 2014
Galleri Nicolai Wallner is pleased to present a solo exhibition of work by Dan Graham, entitled "Tunnel of Love".
Dan Graham is widely considered one of the most significant figures of his time, with the influence he has had on contemporary art extending throughout subsequent generations of artists. Since the mid-1960s, Graham has combined art and architecture, focusing on the ideas of situation and interaction. Working with a minimal aesthetic, his structures become points of convergence through which social elements become paramount.
With "Tunnel of Love", an installation of the same name is placed within the exhibition space. Glass walls are arranged in tandem with each other to form a curved pathway through which the spectator can walk. On either end, the entrances are half blocked, one on the left side and the other on the right, subtly conducting the spectator’s movement as they pass through.
The title of the work is a nod to Graham’s more poetic side, with the idea of how love is represented in the work left open-ended. One way of perhaps understanding it is on an empathetic, interpersonal level. Graham’s works are transcendent, moving beyond the physical form into the realm of the metaphysical. "Tunnel of Love" does not simply become a structure through which our environment is altered, but rather a structure through which our own interpersonal interactions are underlined and explored.
This transformative quality of the work is in part due to Graham’s use of glass. The clarity of its surface becomes not only a way of either looking in or looking out of the structure, but also a reflective surface through which one’s own image can be seen. This dual effect of looking at the other and the self allows the spectator both compare and contrast. The glass allows for observation, but it also creates a division as it acts as a barrier between inside and outside the installation. As such, the ability to move freely through and around the installation becomes essential, as each new position the spectator takes in relation to the work and to other spectators creates new experiences, and reveals more knowledge about how we interact both with ourselves and with the other.
Earlier this year, Dan Graham was commissioned to do a site-specific pavilion for the prestigious Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden at The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York in collaboration with Günther Vogt.
Dan Graham (b.1942, USA) has shown extensively around the world, with notable recent solo exhibitions at De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art (Tilburg), Turner Contemporary (London), Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), Hayward Gallery (London), and Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) among others. Graham also has permanent public installations in various cities, including New York, London, Basel, Brussels, Como, Cologne and Tokyo.