Dan Flavin
dal 20/1/2006 al 1/4/2006
Segnalato da
20/1/2006
Dan Flavin
Hayward Gallery, London
A Retrospective. One of the most innovative figures in 20th-century art, Flavin used fluorescent light in his work, moving beyond the traditional realms of painting and sculpture to become a key exponent of minimalism in the early 1960s. The exhibition brings together around 60 light works from the 1960s to the 1990s. Today cutting-edge American light artist Leo Villareal, whose work currently features in Backdrop at Bloomberg Space, explores how Flavin's minimaist forms have inspired a generation of younger artists.
Dan Flavin: A Retrospective is the first comprehensive exhibition of the work of major American artist Dan Flavin (1933-96). One of the most innovative figures in 20th-century art, Flavin used fluorescent light in his work, moving beyond the traditional realms of painting and sculpture to become a key exponent of minimalism in the early 1960s. The exhibition brings together around 60 light works from the 1960s to the 1990s, more than half of which will be seen for the first time in the UK.
At the heart of Flavin’s artistic project was the transformation of mass-produced, commercially available fluorescent light tubes into works of surprising intensity and beauty. Using what appear to be very limited materials - standard two-, four-, six- and eight-foot strip lights, in less than a dozen basic colours - Flavin created an extraordinarily diverse body of work, each piece possessing its own subtle, expressive power. A pioneer of installation or ‘situational’ art, as he called it, Flavin described these light sculptures as ‘structural proposals’, relating their forms, colours and textures to the particular surroundings in which he placed them.
Dan Flavin: A Retrospective charts the development of Flavin’s practice over his thirty-year career. Spare, profound and visually dazzling, Flavin’s lights illuminate the Hayward’s galleries, which are purposely stripped back and left exposed to create a striking setting for the contemplation of his work. Beginning with his 1961 experiments with electric light and painted constructions, known as the ‘icons’, the exhibition presents his first work in fluorescent light alone, the diagonal of May 25, 1963. Also on show are key works dedicated to friends, family, artists and patrons, as well as a number of ‘monuments’ to the Russian constructivist artist Vladimir Tatlin, which from 1964 to 1990 formed the basis of Flavin’s most sustained series of works.
Many of Flavin’s major large-scale works have not been seen in Europe. The exhibition includes corner pieces, corridors, barriers and room-size installations, many of which are presented as originally intended or installed by the artist himself. Two key installations orchestrated by Flavin are included: works from the seminal Green Gallery exhibition of 1964 have been brought together and installed in one room, and cornered fluorescent light from Dan Flavin, staged in 1972 at the Institute for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, re-created at the Hayward for the first time. Also on show will be a rare selection of sketches, drawings, and early collage constructions exploring Flavin’s practice, which the artist himself described as ‘as plain and open and direct an art as you will ever find’.
Dan Flavin: A Retrospective is organised by Dia Art Foundation, New York in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington and is accompanied by an exhibition catalogue and a newly published catalogue raisonne'. This is the first European showing of the exhibition.
The exhibition is sponsored by Bloomberg.
Following its showing at the Hayward Gallery, Dan Flavin: A Retrospective embarks on an international tour, travelling to Paris then Munich.
Visit the Exhibition microsite for more information
http://www.hayward.org.uk/flavin
Light fantastic
saturday 21 january, 3pm
Cutting-edge American light artist Leo Villareal, whose work currently features in Backdrop at Bloomberg Space, explores developments in illumination technologies, and how Flavin's minimaist forms have inspired a generation of younger artists.
Tuesday 31 January, 6.30pm-8pm
Iconoclastic remarks on an iconoclastic artist:
Dan Graham on the work of Dan Flavin
Join Dan Graham, renowned artist and architect of the Hayward’s Waterloo Sunset Pavilion, in conversation with architecture critic Brian Hatton about the ’60s New York art scene and Graham’s correspondence with Flavin.
Image: Dan Flavin, untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection), 1973, Dia Art Foundation, (c) Stephen Flavin/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Hayward Gallery
South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road 8XZ London SE1
Open daily 10am-6pm: late nights Tuesday and Wednesday until 8pm,
Friday until 9pm.
Ticket prices are to be confirmed.
For further press information or images, please call the Hayward Gallery press office on 020 7921 0887/0631