Artworks

Pavilion influenced by Moon Windows (Variation E)

sculpture
Pavilion influenced by Moon Windows (Variation E) [Pavilhão influenciado pelas Janelas da Lua (Variação E)]
Pavilion influenced by Moon Windows (Variation E) [Pavilhão influenciado pelas Janelas da Lua (Variação E)]
© Francisco Ferreira, cortesia Galeria Filomena Soares
Date

2017

Technique

Stainless steel, double-sided mirrors and glass

Dimensions

92,3 x 125 x 125 cm

American artist and theorist Dan Graham (1942-2022) became known in the post-war artistic context as a central figure in Conceptual Art. In his interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional practice, he explored a hybrid language with architecture in the field of sculpture, starting in the late 1970s with the creation of sculptural objects he called pavilions. These works had a strong impact on the arts scene and earned Graham growing popularity, with commissions from all over the world, leading him to begin a continuous series of sculptures for indoor and outdoor spaces.

- Pavilion influenced by Moon Windows (Variation D)
, from 2017, is one of the variations of the Pavilion model created by Dan Graham, inspired by the garden pavilions of Western architecture and the cosmologically significant circular portals of Chinese and Japanese gardens, which evoke the moon and the earth. On a square base, the artist vertically groups three triangular prisms, structured with steel edges and vertices that he covers with glass and two-way mirrors, creating a translucent and reflective surface that appropriates the surrounding environment. The three-dimensional geometric figure that rises takes on a cubic volumetry, despite the empty space, corresponding to the non-existent fourth prism, which acts as an entrance space and urges the visitor to approach. The eye is drawn to the open circles on some of the prisms' faces, which create an analogy with the shape of the moon and the concept of windows, establishing a dialogue of duality between open and closed spaces, interior and exterior, reflections and transparencies, in an ambivalence that surprises with its fluidity and harmony.