21
Dan Flavin
Untitled (to Jean-Christophe)
- Estimate
- $200,000 - 300,000
$317,000
Lot Details
pink, green, blue and red fluorescent light
48 x 8 3/4 x 4 in. (121.9 x 22.2 x 10.2 cm.)
This work is number 1 from an edition of 5. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and annotated "Dan Flavin 1/3" by the artist. Dan Flavin planned to execute this work in a series of 3, but later executed a total of 5 fabricated works.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
Light is “…a matter of fact…as plain and open and direct an art as you will ever find.” - Dan Flavin
Beginning his exploration of light and its transformative quality with the Icons series in the early 1960s, Flavin eschewed traditionally sublime meaning in his work, insisting upon the self-evident, purely visual nature of his installations. In an effort to further distance himself from such theoretical intrusions, in 1963 Flavin began to employ primarily industrial, commercially available fluorescent light tubes that would become his central media for the remainder of his career. Flavin’s utilization of this found source for his work echoes and irrevocably transforms Duchamp’s readymades. "I like art as thought better than art as work. I've always maintained this. …It's adeclaration: art is thought."
Dedicated to the son of legendary art dealer Leo Castelli, Dan Flavin’s Untitled (To Jean-Christophe)is a bold and luminous statement– one that transforms its environment,dissolving space and form in a warm glow. Flavin’s multicolored fluorescent tubes arranged vertically in succession produce an amplified spectrum of color
in an exquisite interplay of pink, green, blue and red, the colliding light echoing that evoked in works such as color theorist Mark Rothko’s Blue,Orange, Red, 1961 (London, Saatchi Collection). To Jean-Christophe illuminates the ephemeral quality of light itself, both an exemplar of Flavin’s tenet of simplicity of form and a materialization of the atmospheric, experiential interaction of color and light.
Beginning his exploration of light and its transformative quality with the Icons series in the early 1960s, Flavin eschewed traditionally sublime meaning in his work, insisting upon the self-evident, purely visual nature of his installations. In an effort to further distance himself from such theoretical intrusions, in 1963 Flavin began to employ primarily industrial, commercially available fluorescent light tubes that would become his central media for the remainder of his career. Flavin’s utilization of this found source for his work echoes and irrevocably transforms Duchamp’s readymades. "I like art as thought better than art as work. I've always maintained this. …It's adeclaration: art is thought."
Dedicated to the son of legendary art dealer Leo Castelli, Dan Flavin’s Untitled (To Jean-Christophe)is a bold and luminous statement– one that transforms its environment,dissolving space and form in a warm glow. Flavin’s multicolored fluorescent tubes arranged vertically in succession produce an amplified spectrum of color
in an exquisite interplay of pink, green, blue and red, the colliding light echoing that evoked in works such as color theorist Mark Rothko’s Blue,Orange, Red, 1961 (London, Saatchi Collection). To Jean-Christophe illuminates the ephemeral quality of light itself, both an exemplar of Flavin’s tenet of simplicity of form and a materialization of the atmospheric, experiential interaction of color and light.
Provenance
Exhibited
Literature
Dan Flavin
American | B. 1933 D. 1996Dan 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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