We've all seen pictures of the vintage Cadillac cars nose down along
the desert highway or heard about the house built on a rock near Madison,
Wisconsin or the burger-shaped restaurant on Melrose Avenue beckoning
the hungry in Los Angeles. These are just but a few examples of the
American roadside that inspires David Graham to carry a camera with
him at all times as he travels across the county in search of the
sublime.
With the recent release of his fourth book, Declaring Independence,
Graham continues to chronicle his excursions throughout the United
States. His investment in our consumption is unrelenting, keenly aware
of the contradictions that litter the back roads and highways. Through
humor, he shows us how we express our individuality: from a giant
inflatable pumpkin advertising its wares in a rural California town
to a converted milk truck functioning as a mobile roadside church
awaiting its followers in Grants, New Mexico, to a statue of Lenin
inviting patrons to enter a restaurant along lover's lane in Dallas.
Graham is acutely aware of how we use advertising as ornamentation,
as town after town reveals the chaotic order of signage. From Bath,
Maine to Burbank, California, David Graham shows us the complexities
that exist within America. As Robert Venturi wrote in 2001 in his
introduction in Taking Liberties, "... there is the element of
juxtaposition within Graham's art interpreting and celebrating the
everyday American experience involving ranges of mess." It is
this mess which Graham uncovers, helping us see ourselves with a clarity
that brings a smile to all who look at his work.
David Graham has had numerous exhibitions throughout the country
and is represented in prestigious museum collections including The
Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY),
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Bibliotheque Nationale
in Paris.