Dan Graham’s Hedge Two-Way Mirror Walkabout, on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2014 instantly becoming the centerpiece for an untold number of selfies

By Darla McCammon
and Darlene Romano
Guest Columnsts

Dan Graham (1942-2022) was known for a wide variety of artistic creations during his career as a self-taught artist. He created conceptual art, installation art, sculpture, photography, writing, video art, and performing art.

His art career began when, at just 22 years old, he founded the John Daniels Gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with two friends, to showcase artwork by minimalist artists. The gallery gave Sol LeWitt his first solo show and presented artwork from artists Dan Flavin and Donald Judd. The gallery only lasted a year, but it introduced Graham to the very heart of the New York art scene. Graham then began to concentrate on creating his own conceptual pieces.

Graham’s work has come to be defined by his “pavilions,” which comprise steel, mirror and glass structures that create diverse optical effects. After observing office buildings in the 1980’s, Graham began using the same two-way mirror glass to create the pavilions.

Since the glass was “a material that is both transparent and reflective it enabled Graham to deconstruct the surveillance aspect of the material, creating light-hearted situations out of potentially sinister ones; using humor to subvert corporate culture.”  His work investigates the relationship between architectural environments and those who inhabit them. According to the New York Times, the pavilions that Graham created were “sinuous booths of semi-reflective glass that wrapped his preoccupation with spectacle in an appealing sculptural language derived from Minimalism.”

“Rooftop Urban Park Project,” a multipart pavilion overshadowed by wooden water tanks, sat on top of the Dia Foundation’s building in Lower Manhattan throughout the 1990’s

Entering or observing a pavilion would allow the viewer to see themselves reflected against the room beyond, undermining a sense of where, or even who, they were; causing them to wonder just how much of their reality was determined by the architectural environment. Graham himself described his work as “geometric forms inhabited and activated by the presence of the viewer, (producing) a sense of uneasiness and psychological alienation through a constant play between feelings of inclusion and exclusion.”

Graham became one of the most successful conceptual artists in history. His “Rooftop Urban Park Project,” a multipart pavilion overshadowed by wooden water tanks, sat on top of the Dia Foundation’s building in Lower Manhattan throughout the 1990’s. Graham’s exhibit “Hedge Two-Way Mirror Walkabout” was installed on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2014, instantly becoming the centerpiece for an untold number of selfies, and his structure “Child’s Play” was displayed in the Museum of Modern Art’s sculpture garden in 2017. Graham was a widely beloved figure in the art world, known not just as a keen critic, but also as a generous friend. Click here for more information on Dan Graham.

Events

Midwest Museum of American Art in Elkhart: The museum is proud to present the exhibition America The Beautiful by American Master Photographer Clyde Butcher. His extraordinary work will be available for viewing through July 16. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The museum is located at 429 S. Main St. in Elkhart. Admission is $10. For more information, call (574) 293-6660.

Lakeland Art Center & Gallery (LAA): JURIED SHOW-Calling all artists. The show will open to the public on June 7 and run through July 22. There will be a reception to announce the winners of the show from 2-4 p.m. June 25 from 2 pm – 4 pm. The public is welcome to attend. Gallery hours are 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and admission is free. Gallery is located at 302 E. Winona Ave., Warsaw. For more information, email [email protected].

Warsaw City Hall Art Gallery: Kim Lanoue is the featured exhibitor at the Warsaw City Hall Art Gallery. The gallery is inside of Warsaw City Hall which is located at 102 S. Buffalo St., Warsaw. Gallery is open from 8 – 4 daily. Free admission. To exhibit at Warsaw City Hall Art Gallery, contact Darla McCammon, Curator, at (574) 527-4044 (please leave a message) or email to [email protected].

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