Sam Durant

Public Protest

This week’s art post features the work of Sam Durant. Durant is a multi media artist whose works focus on hierarchies of power, referencing historical moments and social acts of resistance or response. Durant’s works are often made for public display outside of art institutions and attempt a larger public discourse.

Hebron, 2007, c-print, 158 x 140 cm. (62.2 x 55.1 in.)

If You Are Not Angry You Are Not Paying Attention, 2017, Light Box, 176 x 166 x 15 cm. (69.3 x 65.4 x 5.9 in.), Unit London

Public Engagement 3, 2013, Sadie Coles HQ, London

Proposal for Public Fountain (detail), 2013; Public Engagement 1, 2013, Sadie Coles Gallery, London

Public Engagement 2, 2013, Sadie Coles Gallery, London

Public Engagement, 2013, Sadie Coles Gallery, London

Sam Durant, Civil Rights March, Wash. DC, 1963, 2002, LACMA

Like Man I'm Tired of Waiting, 2002

Sam Durant, *Untitled* (drone), 2016-2021

Sam Durant, *Proposal for Public Fountain, 2021, Sadie Coles HQ, London*

Sam Durant, Like, Man, I’m Tired (of Waiting), 2021

“Since the 1990s, Sam Durant has developed a research-driven artistic practice in which he dissects and reframes both dominant historical narratives and forgotten facets of our collective past...

(L)ight boxes are based on hand-drawn protest signs that the artist found in photos of street protests. By giving the personal phrases and slogans from protest movements an existence as a colourful light box, Sam Durant emphasises their necessity, and often also the humorous or utopian character of the messages.”

— Art Lead

Photo Sources:

ArtNet, Unit London

Mousse Magazine, Sam Durant, Proposal for Public Fountain, Sadie Coles HQ, London

Unframed, Sam Durant, Like Man I’m Tired of Waiting, LACMA

ArtLead, Billboard Series #21, Sam Durant and the Art of Dialogue

Toward Freedom, Untitled (Drone), 2021