A Closer Look: Graham Dean
Language is an important means of expression for Graham Dean as a visual artist. He gives his exhibitions and individual works striking titles, makes videos about his paintings, and does collaborations with musicians using his works. In addition, he has taught at Bristol Art College in 1976, Craydon College of Art in 1979, Sunderland Art College in 1980, Swansea Art College in 1981, Brighton Art College in 1981, Brighton Art College in 1996, and the British School in Rome in 1992. In 1974 he exhibited his work for the first time, at the notorious and controversial Nicholas Treadwell Gallery in London. He went on to be represented by several other galleries both in London and abroad. Dean’s first solo show was at Bristol Arts Centre in 1973 while he was still a student. Among other early exhibitions, he showed at the Museum of Modern Art, Paris, in 1977, the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1978, John Moores 12 in 1980, ICA London in 1982; from 1982 to 1997 he was featured in a world-touring exhibition showing in over fifty of the top museums, alongside Rauschenberg, Stella, Richter, and Tàpies, among others. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1997 and 1999, the National Portrait Gallery in 2001, and from 2005 to the present day at the TEFAF, Maastricht and Pan Art Fair Amsterdam.
Graham Dean has had over fifty solo shows, including at the Basel Art Fair in 1987, the Nerlino Gallery in New York in 1989 and 1990, and the Bath and Brighton Museums and Art Galleries in 1996, 1999, and 2012. In 2009 Dean was invited to show at the Venice Biennale by a Dutch arts organization. Other major exhibitions devoted to painting in which Dean was represented included “New Paintings and Video” (1970), and (1980). Not only did Dean produce the best work from his early realist period, he was also featured in Critics’ choice exhibitions and featured in an “artist to watch for the future” piece in the London Evening Standard. Dean’s work spans over forty years. In 1995, Colin Simpson of the Williamson Museum and Art Gallery in Birkenhead staged the first retrospective of his works on paper under the title “The Green Room and other Paintings.” This exhibition was subsequently featured in 1996 by Nicola Coleby of the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Brighton under the same title.
