Allan Graham, known also as Toadhouse, (born 1943 in San Francisco, California) is a contemporary American artist based in New Mexico. His work includes sculpture, painting, poetry, and video.
His early paintings were wall-like grids which, in the mid to late 1970s, developed into more open compositions with sweeping arcs and herring-bone patterns.[2]
PERSPECTIVE in a poinless universe, 2010
In 1983, he abandoned conventionally shaped canvases in favor of eccentric forms and began leaving the stretcher bars exposed. By the mid-1980s this had evolved into a series of painting-sculpture hybrids, using wood, canvas, newspaper and book pages, which resembled certain African works.[3] These were followed by near-monochromes on bent canvasses, sculptures made of books and irregularly circular paintings using book pages from sources such as a NavajoBible and Dante's Inferno.
In the 1990s, he painted a series called "Cave of Generation", which consisted of steps leading into large monochrome and two-tone paintings. These were followed by a series titled "Pre-hung (for those who suffer form)" which consisted of single and double doors painted with a palette knife.
In 1990 his work began to appear under the pseudonym of Toadhouse, which came from an underground structure he and his son built in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which attracted toads. The works under the Toadhouse name are word based. In one series he pasted bumper stickers with haiku like slogans on re-chromed car bumpers. In his Cosmo-logical and UFO series, he used tiny words written in graphite.[4]
I think what goes on in your work is this incredible compression that we have to unpack, and, as we unpack it, we have to deal with our own sense of what these words mean to us or how they have some aspect of our habit of thinking, and then maybe take it apart a little.[5]
In addition to physical artwork, two books of Toadhouse poems have been published: Shit Floats Life Goes On (Toadhouse, 1990) and Visual Eyes, Translations from Toadhouse (Ethan J. Wagner, San Francisco, 1991). His poems have also appeared in In Company, an anthology of New Mexico poets after 1960 (University of New Mexico Press, 2004).
Graham has been influenced by Zen Buddhism and Buddhist poetry.[5] A large installation piece titled Time is Memory, which appeared in SITE Santa Fe, included sixteen zafus in front of which were placed famous Buddhist death poems. He has also cited Robert Creeley as an influence. The latter was also part of a video, poetry, photo installation project called “Add-Verse” which he did in conjunction with artist Gloria Graham, his spouse.
Sasse, Julie (2001). Toadhouse. Tucson: Tucson Museum of Art.
External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Allan Graham.
"Allan Graham official website" portfolio website of Allan Graham
December 15, 2023
allan, graham, english, footballer, footballer, known, also, toadhouse, born, 1943, francisco, california, contemporary, american, artist, based, mexico, work, includes, sculpture, painting, poetry, video, studio, 2009, graham, studied, francisco, institute, j. For the English footballer see Allan Graham footballer Allan Graham known also as Toadhouse born 1943 in San Francisco California is a contemporary American artist based in New Mexico His work includes sculpture painting poetry and video Allan Graham Studio 2009 Graham studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and San Jose State University before moving to Albuquerque New Mexico where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of New Mexico 1967 1 His early paintings were wall like grids which in the mid to late 1970s developed into more open compositions with sweeping arcs and herring bone patterns 2 PERSPECTIVE in a poinless universe 2010In 1983 he abandoned conventionally shaped canvases in favor of eccentric forms and began leaving the stretcher bars exposed By the mid 1980s this had evolved into a series of painting sculpture hybrids using wood canvas newspaper and book pages which resembled certain African works 3 These were followed by near monochromes on bent canvasses sculptures made of books and irregularly circular paintings using book pages from sources such as a Navajo Bible and Dante s Inferno In the 1990s he painted a series called Cave of Generation which consisted of steps leading into large monochrome and two tone paintings These were followed by a series titled Pre hung for those who suffer form which consisted of single and double doors painted with a palette knife Contents 1 Toadhouse 2 Influences 3 Public collections holding work 4 Notes 5 References 6 External linksToadhouse edit nbsp Studio 2007In 1990 his work began to appear under the pseudonym of Toadhouse which came from an underground structure he and his son built in Albuquerque New Mexico which attracted toads The works under the Toadhouse name are word based In one series he pasted bumper stickers with haiku like slogans on re chromed car bumpers In his Cosmo logical and UFO series he used tiny words written in graphite 4 In an interview done with Graham in The Brooklyn Rail art critic John Yau said I think what goes on in your work is this incredible compression that we have to unpack and as we unpack it we have to deal with our own sense of what these words mean to us or how they have some aspect of our habit of thinking and then maybe take it apart a little 5 In addition to physical artwork two books of Toadhouse poems have been published Shit Floats Life Goes On Toadhouse 1990 and Visual Eyes Translations from Toadhouse Ethan J Wagner San Francisco 1991 His poems have also appeared in In Company an anthology of New Mexico poets after 1960 University of New Mexico Press 2004 Influences edit nbsp Allan Graham and Robert Creeley during the taping of Add Verse 2004 photo by Gloria GrahamGraham has been influenced by Zen Buddhism and Buddhist poetry 5 A large installation piece titled Time is Memory which appeared in SITE Santa Fe included sixteen zafus in front of which were placed famous Buddhist death poems He has also cited Robert Creeley as an influence The latter was also part of a video poetry photo installation project called Add Verse which he did in conjunction with artist Gloria Graham his spouse Public collections holding work editAlbright Knox Art Gallery Buffalo New York Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza it Varese Italy Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto Rovereto Italy Museo Cantonale d Arte Lugano Svizzera 6 Fisher Landau Center Long Island City New York High Museum of Art Atlanta Georgia Museum of Albuquerque Albuquerque New Mexico University of New Mexico Art Museum Albuquerque New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts Santa Fe NM Sheldon Memorial Art Museum University of Nebraska Lincoln Nebraska Denver Art Museum Denver Colorado Roswell Museum and Art Center Roswell New MexicoNotes edit Sasse 2001 As REAL as thinking 2000 Panza di Biumo The Eighties and the Nineties From the Collection 1992 Tucson Weekly October 11 2001 a b John Yau December 2007 Allan Graham in Conversation with John Yau The Brooklyn Rail Retrieved June 5 2016 Museo Cantonale d Arte Lugano Allan GrahamReferences editSasse Julie 2001 Toadhouse Tucson Tucson Museum of Art External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Allan Graham Allan Graham official website portfolio website of Allan Graham Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Allan Graham amp oldid 1154843384, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
