Dennis Oppenheim

Born: 1938

Died: 2011

Hometown: Electric City, WA

Lives and Works: New York, NY

Education: MFA, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 1965
BFA, School of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA, 1965

Dennis Oppenheim Bio

About The Artist

Dennis Oppenheim first gained recognition for his Conceptual work in the 1960s and '70s, making Earth and body art, videos and performance pieces. An early practitioner of body art, Oppenheim often utilized his body as an art form, favoring brief, performative pieces over durable mediums such as painting or sculpture. As his career progressed, Oppenheim gave up body art in favor of large-scale, Conceptual sculpture and land art or earthworks. Inspired by architectural forms and grandiosity, his sculptures often incorporated moving industrial parts, casts of animals, uprooted buildings, water effects, and even fireworks.

Some of his famous large-scale, ephemeral outdoor projects included abstract formations carved in wheat fields, a gargantuan white square composed of salt, and an enormous pile of dirt with embedded wooden steps. Toward the end of his career, Oppenheim focused on making objects, installations, and public sculpture. The artist's sculptures were even commissioned for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Korea. Oppenheim died in 2011, and he is considered a pioneer in earthworks and Conceptual art.

Dennis Oppenheim Gallery Art

Galleries

ACE Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Stux Gallery, New York, NY

Dennis Oppenheim Permanent Collections

Select Permanent Collections

Centre Pompidou - Musée National dÂ´Art Moderne, Paris, France
Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Museo dÂ´arte contemporanea Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Isreal
Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent, Belgium
Tate Modern, London, England
Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum, Sorø, Denmark