Extended Expressions, 1976

Dennis Oppenheim was an American conceptual artist best known for his chaotic, shifting style and large architectural sculptures meant for display in outdoor public spaces. Despite not having access to arts classes until after high school, he earned a BFA from the School of Arts and Crafts in California and an MFA from Stanford. Between moving to New York in 1966 and his death in 2011, the artist worked with a variety of media, including photography, video, industrial materials, his own body, and the landscape itself. He also gave many of his pieces long, poetic titles. Dennis Oppenheim began experimenting with the art of earthworks or land art in the late 60's, when he cut his pieces out of ice, snow, and wheat in nature. In 1970, a shaped sunburn on his chestmarked his foray into body art, which was followed by photos of other acts bordering on self harm in protest against the Vietnam War.In stark contrast to the "natural" materials he worked with previously, the artist began to create art from 1979 to the middle of the following decade by integrating industrial machinery and automatons into larger spaces. Oppenheim's metaphorical canvas expanded over the last two decades of his life into a series of large, permanentpublic art installations. These are the works he is most lauded for today. Although some of his pieces -- mainly the pop sculptures -- have been decried as vulgar, hokey, or blasphemous, this controversial sculptor no doubt paved the way for conceptual art in its many forms in the early 21st century. (Artist website)