Sam Durant b. 1961
"Art is important in the struggle for a better world, because it gives us the dimension of feeling, of emotion, of pleasure, also pain, all of these things."
– Sam Durant
Artist Biography
Sam Durant (b. 1961, Seattle, United States, based in Los Angeles, United States) explores memory, power and monumentalisation, examining how they shape the political, social and cultural dimensions of a place and its people. Combining media such as sculpture, drawing, photography, installation, found objects and interactive websites, his research-based approach references historical events and reframes them critically for contemporary times.
Growing up, Durant experienced firsthand the transformative American social movements of the 1970s. These include the education reform movement, anti-war demonstrations and desegregation of the public school system, which sparked his emphasis on democratic ideals, racial equality and social justice. In works that rearrange countries, trade routes and slogans on world maps, Durant draws connections between historical imperialist behaviours and present-day trade relations. Proposal for White and Indian Dead Monument Transpositions, Washington, D.C. (2005) is a large-scale installation comprising replicas of thirty massacre memorials that confront the violent history of colonial settlements, as well as the complicated role of public monuments.
Durant obtained his BFA in Sculpture from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston in 1986 and his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia in 1991. His work is held in major collections including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Fonds national d’art contemporain, Paris; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate, London; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Notable solo exhibitions include Nonaligned Echoes, Gifts and Returns (2024), Museum of Contemporary Art Podgorica, Montenegro; Iconoclasm (2023), University of Essex, Colchester; Proposal for Nonaligned Monuments, Free Movement (2021), CC Strombeek, Grimbergen; Iconoclasm (2021), The Common Guild, Glasgow; Proposal for White and Indian Dead Monument Transpositions, Washington, D.C. (2014), Los Angeles County Museum of Art; La stessa storia (The same history) (2013), Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rome; and Sam Durant (2002), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including dOCUMENTA(13) (2012), 13th Documenta, Kassel; Islands, Constellations & Galapagos (2017), 6th Yokohama Triennale; The Sweet Burnt Smell of History (2008), 8th Panama Biennial; Revolutions – Forms That Turn (2008), 16th Biennale of Sydney; and Dreams and Conflicts (2003), 50th Venice Biennale.
Durant had his residency at the STPI Workshop in 2019.