Keith Sonnier
Opening November 8, 2024, Dia Beacon
Overview
This long-term presentation brings together a selection of recently acquired works from the late 1960s and early ’70s by Keith Sonnier, highlighting the artist’s experiments across media. During this period Sonnier pursued what he termed “psychologically loaded” industrial materials, referring to those with strong connotations to their non-art usages. The exhibition features elements emblematic of Sonnier’s practice, like cloth, flocking, latex, neon, and satin—commonplace fragments found scattered about the home and the urban environment—which he combines into dynamic objects and installations. Additionally, the presentation at Dia includes Dis-Play II (1970), a room-size installation of foam rubber, fluorescent powder, strobe light, black light, neon, and glass, which was previously on view at Dia Bridgehampton from 2018 to 2019.
Keith Sonnier is curated by Jordan Carter, curator and co–department head, with Min Sun Jeon, assistant curator.
All exhibitions at Dia are made possible by the Economou Exhibition Fund.
Keith Sonnier is made possible by support from James L. Cahn and Jeremiah J. Collatz, the David Schwartz Foundation, Inc., and those who wish to remain anonymous.
Artist
Keith Sonnier
Keith Sonnier was born in Mamou, Louisiana, in 1941. He died in Southampton, New York, in 2020.