Dan Asher

Biography

The video work of Dan Asher moves in between ephemeral states of 'presence': the artist's presence, which is at once hidden and omniscient in the world that he records, and the presence of his anonymous subjects — self-consciously aware, or dreamily unaware of being taped. The video camera becomes a mediator between the two presences, revealing the relationships and reactions of one to the other.

Asher's hand-held camera zooms in and magnifies details; for example, the hands of a stranger on a subway, or images recorded from international television in a foreign hotel. These voyeuristic notations are shot at an anthropological distance, yet magically transform publicly experienced moments into intimate, often highly poetic instances. Asher's videotapes were preceded by his work in painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography. Asher's hand-held camera zooms in and magnifies details; for example, the hands of a stranger on a subway, or images recorded from international television in a foreign hotel. These voyeuristic notations are shot at an anthropological distance, yet magically transform publicly experienced moments into intimate, often highly poetic instances. Asher's videotapes were preceded by his work in painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography.

Dan Asher was born in 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio, and lived in New York until his death in 2010. He had several solo exhibitions including Wilkinson Gallery, London, UK titled Unrelated (2008); ArtForum Berlin (2003); Galerie Lelong, Zurich; Galerie de Expeditie, Amsterdam; Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo; Burnett Miller Gallery, Los Angeles; Factual Nonsense, London; John Good Gallery, New York.