Journey Home Arrives at the Central Station in Grand Rapids

A large group gathered outside the Rapid Transit system's Central Station in Grand Rapids, Michigan last Friday July 17th for the public dedication of Dennis Oppenheim's recently installed sculpture Journey Home. The artist spoke to the group briefly describing the work.

He said, Journey Home is a spiraling 24-foot high circular form of rolled steel tubing clad with perforated metal, colored acrylic and slotted sandblasted Lexan. The form originates as a point in space, which journeys in a spiral configuration to the shape of a house.

The work was commissioned by the Interurban Transit Partnership and constructed by La Paloma Fine Art, an art fabrication company based in Sun Valley, California.

Dennis Oppenheim is one of the leading artists in the field of sculpture with a career spanning over forty years. He has concentrated on public art since the 1980s. Other public projects to be completed in 2009 are Garden of Evidence for Scottsdale, Arizona; Arriving Home for Chicago; Still Dancing for Toronto; Pathways to Everywhere for Calgary; Radiant Fountain for Houston; and Paintbrush Gateway for Las Vegas.

A book on Oppenheim's recent projects titled: Public Projects was just published by Charta, Milan. Included are essays by artists Vito Acconci and Liam Gillick and scholars, Aaron Betsky and Aaron Levy. It is available from Distributed Art Publishers.

Events this week

Hello all,

The book signing at the Parrish Art Museum in East Hampton is coming up this Thursday July 23rd. Hope to see you out there.

I also presented my sculpture, Journey Home, last Friday July 17th in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The sculpture was installed outside the Central Station bus depot. Check out the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grand-Rapids-MI/The-Rapid-Transit-Authority-for-the-Grand-Rapids-metro-area/43516312373
I will be doing another update on this sculpture.

There are also other book signing events coming up at Clic Gallery in East Hampton and at Storefront in New York City. Stay up to date with events by following my blog and e-blast newsletters.

Parrish Art Museum Book Signing & Lecture

Parrish Art Museum
Public Projects by Dennis Oppenheim Book Signing and Lecture
DATE: Thursday, July 23 2009
TIME: 8pm
LOCATION: Parrish Art Museum
25 Jobs Lane, Southampton, NY 11968
MORE: http://www.parrishart.org/detail.asp?id=136&pid=631

Device to Root Out Evil 1997

Galvanized structural steel, anodized perforated aluminum, transparent red Venetian glass, concrete foundations.

9' X 15' X 20'

Collection of the Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, USA

Photo by Edward Smith, Venice

Public Projects

pgs. 148 - 164 illus (143 in color)

Paperback - 21x28 cm

English text

ISBN 978-88-8158-695-0

34.00 €; 45.00 $

Texts by Aaron Levy, Vito Acconci,

Aaron Betsky, Liam Gillick, Dennis Oppenheim,

Roland Nachtigäller, Friederike Fast

Dennis Oppenheim's unrelenting curiosity, intelligence, and audacity have made him an influentialfigure in the contemporary art world for more than forty years. Oppenheim's work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in the local area including at the LongHouse Reserve and GuildHall Museum in East Hampton. For this special program, the artist will deliver an illustrated lectureabout his large-scale public commissions spanning from the past twenty years, expanding uponhis recent book Public Projects. Following the talk, he will take questions from the audience andthere will be a signing of his book to follow. There will also be a limited number of copies to be given away.

Upcoming events

Hello all,
This summer is going to be action packed.
I want to briefly announce a few events that are coming up, so keep your eyes out.

-July 3 - Thanksgiving
I am part of the Earth Art Exhibit taking place in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Ontario, Canada. This show is curated by John Grande and will feature artists from around the globe.
My piece is called Spiral Scarecrows, representing a garden based on hysteria.

-July 23, 8pm
I will be doing a Book Signing and Lecture at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, New York. This will promote my new book Public Project that is coming out.

-Distillery District, Toronto
Late last year I won the public art plan commission, and my sculpture will be displayed permanently in the main square between Balzac's Coffee and Tappo's Restaurant. The piece is titled Still Dancing.

Exhibition in Berlin

Exhibition at Galerie Jarmuschek, Berlin
Date: June 20th - August 1st
Location: Halle am Wasser
Invalidenstr. 50/51
10557 Berlin
Germany
More: http://www.jarmuschek.de

The opening night was on June 19th.

Stay up to date: follow the blog, join the mail list, add facebook

Stay current with all of my upcoming events by following my blog and my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/dennis.oppenheim
You can also opt to join the mail list by emailing mail.oppenheim@earthlink.net

Also, check out my websites:
http://www.dennis-oppenheim.com/
http://www.dennisoppenheim.org/

Houston Arts Alliance Commission

Here it is my latest newsletter:

"Radiant Fountain" Wins the One Million Dollar Houston Arts Alliance Gateway Commission

Dennis Oppenheim has been awarded a one million dollar commission by the Houston Arts Alliance for a work at the entrance to Houston at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

The competition for this artwork, which concluded in April of this year, required a proposal for a major sculpture to replace the 'Welcome to Houston" sign visible from the roadway as one exits the airport. Oppenheim's proposal, titled "Radiant Fountains" consists of three sixty foot high cylindrical towers containing thousands of LED's suspended by cables, the animated LED's representing a giant twenty five foot tear drop falling into a pool, creating the upward sensation of a splash, which rises to sixty feet and consists of a multitude of colored lights cascading and sparkling toward the top and beyond, emerging in bright, spherical globes; representing giant droplets.

This "event" sculpture will occur in three locations sited on both side of the highway exiting the airport.

The simple transaction of the falling teardrop, plunging upward, brings to mind a universal display of energy production and creation. It is the artist's desire to captivate motorists leaving the airport, both during the day and at night. The highly visible animate LED presentation is programmed to change often, both in tempo and coloration.

The work will be executed by local fabricators, joined by Oppenheim's staff.