Lot 229
Dennis Oppenheim
Washington, New York, (1938-2011)
Stills From Aspen Projects #2, 1971
lithograph
Titled lower left, numbered 40/50 lower center, signed and dated lower right.
Biography from the Archives of askART
Photo of Dennis Allan Oppenheim
Known for conceptual installations* of seemingly unrelated elements as well as earth art such as patterns in snow and harvested fields in designs, Dennis Oppenheim creates work from his New York studio that is intended to burlesque various aspects of life. He is known as a post-minimalist*, and much of his work such as vomit machines and copulating dolls is intended to disturb and pose many questions for the viewer. Many of his pieces have challenging titles such as Blushing Machine and Waffle Bone. One writer described his sculpture as expressing "a swarm of pathologies which have escalated beyond human control" (Art in America April 1997).
Controversy continues to surround Dennis Oppenheim. In 1997, his entry in the Venice Biennale* was Device to Root Out Evil, an upended church-like structure 22 feet tall in steel, glass and aluminum. Directors of the Cantor Center for the Visual Arts at Stanford University agreed to buy it for that collection, which seemed appropriate because Stanford was Oppenheim's alma mater. However, the Dean of the School helped blocked the acquisition by the University because of its being controversial. Eventually the piece was installed in Vancouver in Harbour Green Park on a long-term loan, but subsequently the city's park superintendent asked for its removal because of objections to the subject matter and its blocking resident's views of the bay. Two other versions of the piece exist; one is at the Denver Art Museum, and the other is owned by a private collection. Oppenheim "dismisses claims that the work is anti-religion, saying that "turning the church upside down makes it more aggressive, but not blasphemous." (Art in America, June 2008)
In the 1970s, when he first gained attention, he did body art such as placing a book on his chest while getting sunburned so the book left a mark. At that time, he was also a leading artist using film and video with performance art, which led to his acceptance in both the Venice Biennale* and the Johannesburg Biennale in 1997. In 2000, he began his largest public work, Bus Home, a bus depot at the Pacific View shopping mall in Ventura, California. With a bus-like form spiraling through the air and turning into a house-like image, it is structurally radical and aggressively attention getting. (Art in America, 9/2002).
Oppenheim was born in Electric City, Washington, and received his B.F.A. from the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland and an M.F.A. from Stanford University in Palo Alto. When he moved to New York City in 1966, he earned money by teaching nursery school and then high school. In 1968, he, age 30, had his first one-person exhibition
He is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
- Dimensions: 30"H x 22 1/4"W (sheet)
- Medium: lithograph
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