Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T09:24:13.599Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Conceptual Systems: The Dances, Music, and Drawings of Laura Dean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2020

Abstract

Laura Dean's creative output in minimalist art spans interconnected work in dance, music, and drawing. Throughout the early 1970s, Dean represented her compositional structures as works on paper, which present an expanded visualization of her artistic experimentation with color, symmetry, repetition, and form. Dean rejects the reconstruction of her performance works, instead she advances a notion of dances as impermanent. Situating Dean in the context of serial and conceptual art in which the material art object is deemphasized in favor of communicating compositional logic, I argue that Dean presents a choreographic legacy premised on the intentional disappearance of her work in favor of perpetuating ideation and concept.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Dance Studies Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Alberro, Alexander. 1999. “Reconsidering Conceptual Art, 1966–1977.” In Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology, edited by Alberro, Alexander and Stimson, Blake, xvixxxvii. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bochner, Mel. 1968. “Serial Art, Systems, Solipsism.” In Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology, edited by Battcock, Gregory, 92102. New York: E. P. Dutton.Google Scholar
Borden, Lizzie. 1973. “Laura Dean and Dance Company, LoGiudice Gallery.Artforum 11 (6): 83.Google Scholar
Dean, Laura. 1971. Program for Bach Preludes at Merce Cunningham Dance Studio, New York, August 28–29. Binder 1, Laura Dean Papers, American Dance Festival Archives, Duke University.Google Scholar
Dean, Laura. 1972. Program for Laura Dean and Dance Company at LoGiudice Gallery, New York, December 9 and 16. Binder 3, Laura Dean Papers, American Dance Festival Archives, Duke University.Google Scholar
Dean, Laura. 1973. Program for Laura Dean and Dance Company / Steve Reich and Musicians, Eisner-Lubin Auditorium, Loeb Student Center, New York University, New York, NY, April 27–28. Binder 4, Laura Dean Papers, American Dance Festival Archives, Duke University.Google Scholar
Dean, Laura. 1975. “7 Dances.” The Drama Review: TDR 19 (1): 1825.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, Laura. 1978. “Laura Dean.” In Contemporary Dance, edited by Livet, Ann, 93114. New York: Abbeville Press.Google Scholar
Dean, Laura. 2017. Letter to the author, October 13.Google Scholar
Dean, Laura. 2020. E-mail to the author, September 9.Google Scholar
Dean, Laura. n.d. “Laura Dean Biography.” Laura Dean: Dancer—Choreographer—Composer: The Official Site. Accessed October 20, 2019. http://www.lauradeandance.com/biography.html .Google Scholar
Glowski, Janice M. 2000. “Visual Arts, Buddhist: Tibet.” In Encyclopedia of Monasticism, edited by Johnston, William M., 13591370. Vol. 2. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn.Google Scholar
Jackson, George. 1971. “New York Entries: Laura Dean.” Dance News, December.Google Scholar
Kardon, Janet, ed. 1980a. Drawings: The Pluralist Decade. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Institute of Contemporary Art. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title, presented at the 39th Venice Biennale, June 1–September 30.Google Scholar
Kardon, Janet, ed. 1980b. Drawings: The Pluralist Decade. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Institute of Contemporary Art. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title, presented at the University of Pennsylvania Institute of Contemporary Art, October 4–November 9, 1980, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, May 29–June 26, 1981.Google Scholar
Reich, Steve. 1973. “Notes on the Music: Clapping Music.” In program for Laura Dean and Dance Company / Steve Reich and Musicians, Loeb Student Center, Eisner-Lubin Auditorium, New York University, New York, NY, April 27–28. Binder 4, Laura Dean Papers, American Dance Festival Archives, Duke University.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Ellen. 1982. Tracking, Tracing, Marking, Pacing: (Movement Drawings). New York: Pratt Institute. Exhibition catalog.Google Scholar
Webster's II New Riverside Desk Dictionary: For Home, School, Office. 1988. New York: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Yogananda, Paramahansa. 1946. Autobiography of a Yogi. New York: The Philosophical Library.Google Scholar