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Lucas Samaras DIA Beacon From 21 September 2024 New York
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Press Release

For over 60 years, Lucas Samaras has worked fluidly between mediums in a manner that eludes categorization. The artist’s eccentric and uncanny objects often combine formal strategies of Minimalism with the haptic materiality of everyday objects. Such is the case with Cubes and Trapezoids (1993–94), which joined the collection in 2003 and will be presented at Dia Beacon for the first time since its 1994 debut at Pace Gallery in New York, together with a significant loan of one of the artist’s immersive mirrored rooms, Doorway (1966–2007).

The cubes consist of 24 totemic wooden volumes, with cutouts of various geometrical shapes, that are arranged in an expansive grid. The related wall-works, the trapezoids, are made up of eight irregular quadrilateral forms nestled within uniform rectangles. The non-reflective surfaces of the trapezoids, which nonetheless respond to light, complement the mirrored panels of Doorway. Together these psychologically charged objects literally and materially evoke the body, perverting the analytical geometries of Minimalism with the messy realities of identity and interiority.

Lucas Samaras is curated by Jordan Carter, curator and co–department head, with Liv Cuniberti, curatorial assistant.

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About the Artist

Decades before the selfie, self-portrait pioneer Lucas Samaras (1936–2024) was a trailblazer for new ways of making images. Moving from a Polaroid into the digital sphere, his portraits and autobiographical pieces focused on selfhood, transformation, psyche and the body. Samaras was also known for his “boxes”, which combined elements of sculpture and painting with found objects and often played with the idea of the “box” itself.

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About the Gallery

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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Address
3 Beekman Street
Beacon
New York
United States
Opening Hours
January–March
Friday–Monday 11 am–4 pm

April–October
Thursday–Monday 11 am–6 pm

November–December
Thursday–Monday 11 am–4 pm
(1)
New York 3 Beekman Street, Beacon
DIA Beacon contemporary art institution in New York United States
DIA Beacon
3 Beekman Street, Beacon, New York, United States
+1 845 440 0100
http://www.diaart.org

Opening hours
January–March
Friday–Monday 11 am–4 pm

April–October
Thursday–Monday 11 am–6 pm

November–December
Thursday–Monday 11 am–4 pm
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