(Mason City/Washington 1938–2011 New York)

Study for Spirit Note. 1989.

Mixed media on paper.

Vertically signed and dated at the right margin: Dennis Oppenheim 1989, also titled at the lower bottom: STUDY FOR SPIRIT NOTE - BLACK ENAMEL TRUMPET - ELECTRIC FAN SILK FABRIC - MASK.

97 x 127 cm.

With the written confirmation of authenticity by the Dennis Oppenheim Estate, New York, April 2011.


Born in Electric City, Washington in 1938, Dennis Oppenheim is of the generation of artists, who at the end of the 1960s, exploded the prevailing concept of art, by giving pre-eminence to the concept of form. The resulting plethora of multimedia art is also reflected in Oppenheim’s work, who obtained his Master of Fine Arts at Stanford University in 1965. While at the beginning he concerned himself with the sensory powers of the human body and with ephemeral interventions in the outdoors, he later increasingly made use of industrial processes. From this he drew new possibilities of giving expression to his polemical stance and began to create interior and exterior installations partly inspired by Pop Art.

The watercolour offered here at auction, “Spirit Notes”, is a study of an installation of the same name, dating from 1989. The broken lines of the study indicate the transfer to installation, in which Dennis Oppenheim has four fabric figures inflated and vibrating over an electric fan. The totem-like figures and the title of the work suggest an allusion to society’s dealings with spirituality, with the literal use of “hot air”. Dennis Oppenheim, however, leaves the interpretation to the public.

Oppenheim is represented in the most important international museums and private collections. Furthermore, his large scale sculptures are present in various public spaces throughout the world. His work has been exhibited internationally since the early 1970s, including important exhibitions such as Harald Szeemann‘s “When Attitudes Become Form” at the Kunsthalle in Bern.