
Since the mid-1960s, Keith Sonnier seamlessly integrated an array of media into his practice while prioritizing concept, process, and duration. This presentation marks the artist’s first posthumous institutional exhibition in the United States, featuring a group of works realized between 1968 and 1970. During this formative period the artist radically reconsidered the haptic, spatial, and temporal dynamics of sculpture: from what he referred to as his “floor-to-wall” sculptures to installations that envelop their architectural surroundings with light and color. In these works, Sonnier pursued what he termed “psychologically loaded” industrial materials—including cloth and satin in addition to neon, latex, and flocking—with strong associative qualities. Many realized in situ, the sculptures and installations on view reconstitute the pivotal, early years of Sonnier’s practice, encapsulating foundational concerns and innovative strategies that defined his artistic vocabulary, including the entanglement of material, light, time, and space, as well as the cultivation of psychological and sensual evocations through process and form.
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.
Louisiana-born sculptor and performance and video artist Keith Sonnier was a pioneer of post-Minimalist sculpture in the late 1960s. Experimenting with new materials, particularly neon lights, he helped to re-invent Minimalism for a contemporary era.




DIA Beacon is a renowned contemporary art museum situated in Beacon, New York, on the banks of the Hudson River. Housed in a repurposed 1929 Nabisco box printing factory, its expansive galleries and minimalist architecture make it a destination for lovers of postwar art and industrial design.

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