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

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  • Provenance

    Leo Castelli Gallery, New York; Private collection, France

  • Exhibited

    New York, Leo Castelli Gallery, Dan Flavin: 1960’s and 1970’s Installations, October 20 – November 10, 1979; New York, L & M Arts, Elemental Form, October 19 – December 9, 2006

  • Literature

    V. Natsios, “Dan Flavin’s Neon Works”, New York Arts Journal, January, 1980, p. 34; J. Bell, “Review: Leo Castelli Gallery”, Art News 79, no. 1, January, 1980, p. 160; K. Baker, Minimalism, New York/London/Paris, 1988, p. 88 (illustrated); J. Lopez Anaya, “La luz como fuente de revelaciones”, La Nacion, Buenos Aires, October 11, 1998, p. 5 (illustrated); T. Bell and M. Govan, Dan Flavin The Complete Lights 1961 – 1996, New York, 2004, no. 96, pp. 246-247 (illustrated); L & M Arts, ed., Elemental Form, New York, 2006, pp. 56-57 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    “Flavin’s tubes carry with them not only the generalized atmosphere of the industrial, but also the quite specific aura of the milieus they most often illuminate—the supermarket, the office, the factory, the hardware store, the lighting shop, the building supply house. Fluorescent lights are cheap, impersonal, replaceable, modular. They are cool, simple in shape, and they radiate virtually without shadow, emitting only a low hum. They are industrial artifacts poised midway between the old idea of a machine and the new one. The classical machine was active, warm, metallic and noisy—a thing of wheels, gears, crankshafts and pistons.

    Flavin presents the industrial in a low-keyed, appreciative way, as a condition of modern existence. Fluorescent light fixtures, like International Style skyscrapers, are made of metal and glass. They are opaque and transparent, strong yet fragile. Flavin’s approach to material is straightforward in an essentially Miesian manner. Form follows function. Material embellishments are strictly excluded from Flavin’s artistic vocabulary: no customizing, no special bending, no timers, no dimmers, no gestural drawing in space, no mixed media, no text,” (R. Kalina, “In Another Light”, Art In America, Volume 84, Number 6, June, 1996, pp. 68-73).

  • 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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34

Puerto Rican Light (to Jeanie Blake) 2

1965
Red, pink, and yellow fluorescent lights.
Height 96 in. (243.8 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. This work is unique in the edition as the middle light is 48 in. (121.9 cm) high.

Estimate
$550,000 - 600,000 

Sold for $456,000

Contemporary Art Part I

17 May 2007
7pm New York