Dorothy R. Santos

I just read something sad. An artist died. It was Dennis Oppenheim.

Mr. Oppenheim went to the California College of the Arts (Oakland, CA) and received his MFA at Stanford. Then, like many artists, he moved to New York to pursue his art career and practice. His art work is grandiose and forces you to move in the environment differently than you normally would. I heard of him but never had the opportunity to study his work more intimately. Now, I feel compelled to do so.

Perhaps, that’s why I’m saddened by the art world’s loss. Artists are always posthumously recognized by the the rest of the world. Even if you eat, sleep, and breath art, it’s difficult to know everything and everyone and all the art movements (yes, there are TONS). Yet, I feel consolation in the fact that artists are probably the only types of human beings that create the most substantial artifacts of our civiliations within a lifetime. With such large scale work that is undoubtedly present and created with such magnitude, well, that’s quite impressive.

You can read The New York Times article here.