Dan Flavin - Contemporary Art Part I New York Thursday, May 17, 2007 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    PaceWildenstein, New York

  • Exhibited

    New York, PaceWildenstein, Dan Flavin, March 29 – April 27, 1996; Rio de Janiero, Centro Cultural Light, Dan Flavin, May 14 – July 5, 1998; London, Annely Juda Fine Art, American Beauty, May 23– July 13, 2002

  • Literature

    Centro Cultural Light, ed., Dan Flavin, Rio de Janiero, 1998, p. 9 and front cover (illustrated); Annely Juda Fine Art, ed., American Beauty, London, 2002, no. 4, n.p. (illustrated); T. Bell and M. Govan, Dan Flavin The Complete Lights 1961 – 1996, New York, 2004, no. 661, p. 404 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    “Flavin was one of the New York artists who in the 1960s rejected the flamboyant, painterly work of the previous generation of American artists, the abstract expressionists, and sought to make art that was the opposite of the forceful emotionalism of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko. Along with Don Judd, Carl Andre and Robert Morris, Flavin was one of the key figures of minimalism.

    Dull on paper but glorious in the gallery, Flavin’s art uses minimal means to luxurious effect. Concentration is pleasure, and Flavin concentrates everything he loves about art into this game he plays with strip lighting. Flavin distills a theory of art into his work. This is neither painting nor sculpture, yet refers to both. His fascination with color is that of a painter- one early work is dedicated to Matisse—and yet he’s interested in forms in space, like a sculptor. He also ‘draws’, arranging his lines of light in space. Then again, he’s an architect, transforming spaces: his lights change the feel of the rooms so radically they become structural components of space rather than decorations. This art does not exist without being installed. A strip light only stops being an ordinary stip light when placed in a certain Flavinesque way. More than any of the other early minimalists, Flavin’s art takes on new meanings in different locations, against different architecture, “J. Jones, “How many artists does it take to change a light bulb?”, The Guardian, August 28, 2001, p. 10).

  • Artist Biography

    Dan Flavin

    American • 1933 - 1996

    Dan Flavin employed commercially-sold fluorescent light tubes in order to produce what he liked to call "situations" or installations. His minimalist approach transcended simplicity through his use of neon colors and thoughtful compositions. With straight-edged light beams, Flavin would often create dynamic arrangements reminiscent of Fred Sandback's work with yarn.

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44

Untitled

1995
Blue, red and green fluorescent light.
48 x 8 x 3 5/8 in. (121.9 x 20.3 x 9.2 cm).
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist and is from an intended edition of five of which only three were fabricated.

Estimate
$150,000 - 200,000 

Sold for $336,000

Contemporary Art Part I

17 May 2007
7pm New York