Dennis Oppenheim

Part II (yourube) here.

R.I.P Dennis DennisOppenheim Oppenheim
6. Sept 1938 – Jan 21 2011 -(photo via)

His works branch in a number of directions, partly because they provide so little information. They are almost violent, almost failing, almost private.. In one sense, they are metaphor without specifc reference -“they point to” psychological strata existing outside of ordinary language. They betray thier own desriptions. – Alan Sondheim – Individuals: Post Movement Art in America

Received this sad news via Alan Sondheim.
Dennis Oppenheim just died; he was one of the most amazing artists I’ve ever
known… A really sad day –

– Alan

  • 2011-01-23-IdentityStretch

    Dennis Oppenheim, 1938-2011: The Man Who Made The World Nervous by Roger Denson

  • Roberta Smith (NYtimes) in her obit informs us that he was once married to Alice Aycock in the 80’s.

    His career might almost be defined as a series of sidelong glances at the doings of artists like Vito Acconci, Mr. Smithson, Bruce Nauman, Alice Aycock (to whom he was married in the early 1980s) and Claes Oldenburg.

    Whitebox obit here <> <> California Arts

  • Dennis Oppenheim has a blog + Whitney interview

    Dennis Oppenheim homepage

    In Hawaii Dennis became a developer and was successful as an entrepreneur in the early 60’s.
    (Thanks to Hal Lum for this information and a link to – An interview of Dennis Oppenheim conducted 1995 July- Aug, by Suzaan Boettger, for the Archives of American Art.)

    And I think that my state was a state of mind that I harbored as a graduate student at Stanford, was one that is not unfamiliar today and found in lots of young people. The feeling was that art is what you don’t know. Everything else is art history.

    Sol LeWitt was dealing with his systematic units of and his grids, and there was already a ray of material out there that one could think about. Smithson was extremely catalytic because he was writing about the real world. His writing was enormously catalytic, I think, at that time. I found that very exciting. There was also an article by Michael Freed, talking about minimalism approach in theatricality, which seemed interesting at the time, too.

    B: Did you ever read a lot?
    DO: Not a great deal. Not as much as many people. What I found is that it got me too excited. I mean, stuff that I liked — it overly stimulated me. Like if I would read James Joyce, or if I would read or , or even poets like Charles or even people like Dylan Thomas who are odd, or even contemporary poets like Ted Hughes. And then books like — I like this Austrian guy who made . His name is Bernhardt. Thomas Bernhardt, who was influenced by Becker. And then some of the French structural writing. French and , and some of the stuff by American writers. Yes, Beckett would drive me crazy. I can’t even read him now. He’s so good — so good.

    (Dennis liked Thomas Bernhard)

  • Met Dennis during my time in grad school. He will always be perched on my
    shoulder reminding me to be true to myself. (Robert Gardner -via email)