Dan Graham's New Jersey

Dan Graham, one of North America’s most important contemporary artists, is best known today for his sculptural works and installations. His photographic works are generally not so well known, despite the fact that he first became famous for his photographic series Homes for America, pictures of typical American suburbia. To this day the theme of architecture and its surfaces in the context of postmodern everyday culture represents an extremely important facet of his work. This publication presents new photographs by Dan Graham together with original photographs from the Homes for America series. The new images exhibit stark similarities to the old pictures, as they were taken in the same locations, the same deserts of suburban streets and housing that Graham photographed in the sixties. Creating a fascinating, multilayered reference system of repetitions and differences, both spatially as well as temporally, it raises questions about architecture and public space and their function in society.

Dan Graham, one of North America’s most important contemporary artists, is best known today for his sculptural works and installations. His photographic works are generally not so well known, despite the fact that he first became famous for his photographic series Homes for America, pictures of typical American suburbia. To this day the theme of architecture and its surfaces in the context of postmodern everyday culture represents an extremely important facet of his work. This publication presents new photographs by Dan Graham together with original photographs from the Homes for America series. The new images exhibit stark similarities to the old pictures, as they were taken in the same locations, the same deserts of suburban streets and housing that Graham photographed in the sixties. Creating a fascinating, multilayered reference system of repetitions and differences, both spatially as well as temporally, it raises questions about architecture and public space and their function in society.


«Dass Graham seine frühen Arbeiten oft kommentiert, dass wir ein umfangreiches Interview mit ihm lesen können, dass uns erzählt wird, wie diese zweite grosse Fototour zustande kam und mit welchen weiteren Protagonisten und dass wir nicht zuletzt das grossartige "Homes For America" wiedersehen in einem weiteren Kontext, das macht diese Art von Werkschau befriedigend und für alles weitere Sprechen über Fotografie und Architektur äusserst nützlich.»
– Deutsche BauZeitschrift


 

Author(s): Dan Graham

Edited by Craig Buckley and Mark Wasiuta, In cooperation with GSAPP, Columbia University

Design: Integral Lars Müller

19 x 26 cm, 7 ½ x 10 ¼ in

192 pages, 140 illustrations

hardback

2012, 978-3-03778-259-0, English
CHF 45.00

Dan Graham

Dan Graham (*1942 in Urbana, Illinois, †2022 in New York City) is an American conceptual artist whose work traces the symbiosis between architectural environments and their inhabitants. His genre-defying oeuvre spans photography, architecture, sculpture, filmmaking and live performances, alongside curation and critical writing on a broad variety of subjects. In the mid-1970s, Graham created his well-known walk-in mirror pavilions as a mixture of architecture and sculpture. He participated in the Venice Biennale in 1976, 2003, 2005, multiple documentas (1972, 1977, 1982, 1992, 1997) and received the American Academy of Arts and Letters award, among others.