Dan Graham @ the Whitney

I really enjoyed the Dan Graham exhibit at the Whitney. I personally find Mr. Graham to be a fascinating all be it quirky person and after hearing his lecture I was looking forward to seeing his art. I was not disappointed.

I found that Mr. Graham seems to have a number of themes running through most of his work. He likes to look at concepts of time and space, both with his video art and his structures. He also likes to make a point with his work, such as with his "Rock My Religion" video and his "Homes for America" piece. I personally found "Rock My Religion" to be almost more of a documentary than a video art. Though it was very artistically done. I don't know, maybe I need to reconsider my definition of video art I guess. At any rate, the video pointed out the similarities between religion and music. The similarities between various religions groups and say the rock and roll fans or the hippies were pretty interesting. Mr. Graham's point seems to be that there is something in our make up that pushes us to express ourselves in intense emotional ways. And where the religious groups he mentioned such as the Quakers or Baptists find their emotional release and validation in their religious services and passions so the rock and roll fan find similar release in the rock concert. I'm butchering the concept but it was very fascinating. An effective technique Mr. Graham used was to play clips of the band and audience at a rock and roll concert rocking out without sound. This caused you to focus on the expressions and intensity of motion from a more objective standpoint without hearing the music. Then he switched over and let the viewer see clips of what appeared to be a southern revival meeting with the people praising the lord, jumping and praying without sound. You watched the Rock Lead interact with his audience and then you saw the Preacher interact with his congregation, all without sound. Once again, the similarities were amazing. Even down to almost exact expressions and movements towards the viewers.

So at any rate, I really enjoyed his "Rock My Religion" video. That was my favorite work of his though I liked several of his architectural works as well. I seem to be developing a really intense love of innovative quirky art design. I really enjoyed both Ron Arad and Dan Graham.