N
Posted by Lanita Withers Goins, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-3890
Posted 8-24-09
GREENSBORO, N.C. — What do the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro and the Whitney Museum of Art in New York have in common? Artist Dan Graham. The Whitney has co-organized a major traveling retrospective of the highly acclaimed artist’s work, which runs through October 11. The Weatherspoon has installed a new addition to its permanent collection: Triangular Solid with Circular Inserts from 1989. It is the first realization of Graham’s triangular pavilion and is among many pavilions and other glass structures he has designed for both indoor and outdoor environments.
As described in Chronology (1989), “Triangular Solid with Circular Inserts is an equilateral solid triangle with a circular central opening allowing the spectator to enter and have an interior view. There are equally sized circles of glass centered in relation to the side of the triangle and to the central opening. The opening side is transparent glass. The left side is two-way mirror and the circular insert is mirror on both sides. The right side is transparent glass and the circular insert is two-way mirror.”
Written descriptions of the piece cannot capture the possibility of multiple visual permutations in Graham’s pavilion. When inside the structure, viewers can see themselves and the people and surroundings outside—at least where their view is unobstructed by two-way mirror glass; the same goes for viewers on the exterior. From various angles, the “footprint” of the pavilion appears to be doubled. There is a funhouse quality to the piece that is at once somewhat disorienting and fully engaging.
Crediting popular culture as the genesis for many of his intellectual ideas, the artist has described his glass structures as existing “somewhere between architecture and television.”
Dan Graham was born in Urbana, Illinois, in 1942 and grew up in New Jersey. After high school, Graham began a remarkable career. He briefly ran an art gallery in New York City where he gave Sol LeWitt his first solo exhibition. He then turned to performance art and has created numerous videos. He has written brilliant and influential essays on art and cultural topics, and is an avid music fan. The bibliography on Graham’s work is extensive, as is his exhibition record around the world.
The Weatherspoon Art Museum is very excited to have acquired Triangular Solid with Circular Inserts and to add to an important work by Graham—one of the most highly regarded artists working today—to its permanent collection. “Although it took us several years to purchase this piece and to have it installed, it is already delighting visitors of all ages,” says Weatherspoon director Nancy Doll. “This acquisition of the Graham pavilion adds to the growing collection of outdoor sculpture in the museum’s courtyard.”
For more information, contact Loring Mortensen, public and community relations officer for the Weatherspoon Art Museum, at (336) 256-1451 or lamorten@uncg.edu.