Dan Flavin (1933-1996)
Dan Flavin (1933-1996)

Untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck and Leonard)

Details
Dan Flavin (1933-1996)
Untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck and Leonard)
yellow and pink fluorescent light
96 x 96 in. (244 x 244 cm.)
Executed in 1972-1975. This work is number one from a conceived edition of three of which only one was fabricated and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
Provenance
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Literature
"Art. Dan Flavin: Installation in Fluorescent Light 1972 through 1975." D, The Magazine of Dallas, January 1976, p.26.
V. Raynor, "Art: Dan Flavin Lights SoHo with Neon." New York Times, July 17, 1981, sec.C., p.22 (illustrated).
T. Lawson, "Review: Leo Castelli Gallery." Artforum 20, no.2 (October 1981), p.76 (illustrated).
A. Campbell Bliss, "Art, Color, Architecture." AIA Journal 71, no.2 (February 1982), p.55 (illustrated).
P. Nisbet, New Works: Dan Flavin, Boston, 1986, n.p. (illustrated). A. Hindry, "Dan Flavin" 'Le Pur Vase d'aucun breuvage...." Artstudio, no.6 (Fall 1987), p.112 (illustrated).
M. Deschamps, "Dan Flavin: Situations." Art Press, no.121 (January 1988), p.33 (illustrated).
A. Hindry, ed. Claude Berri rencontre/Meets Leo Castelli, Paris, 1990, pl.69 (illustrated).
V. Goldberg, "Industry and Art: A Long Embrace." New York Times, April 22, 2001, sec.2, p.38 (illustrated).
M. Govan and T. Bell, Dan Flavin The Complete Lights 1961-1996, New York, 2004, p.315, no.321 (illustrated).
Exhibited
Texas, Fort Worth Art Museum, Dan Flavin: installations in fluorescent light 1972-1975, November 1975-January 1976, pp.70-71 and p.33 (illustrated).
New York, Leo Castelli Gallery, Dan Flavin: corridors, May-September 1981.
Houston, Menil Collection, Dan Flavin/Donald Judd: Aspects of Color, November 1998-January 1999, no.23.

Lot Essay

Dan Flavin's work has always been involved with light, architecture and the relationship between the two. In untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck and Leonard), Flavin creates a work in which the sculpture is literally architecture--the 8 foot tall fluorescent bulbs form a wall of light, 8 feet wide, that is placed in a narrow corridor of the same height and width. It is telling that Flavin called these works "corridors", signifying that the work is as much about the corridor of space leading up to the wall of light, as it is about the sculpture itself.

Flavin began making "corridors" in the early 1970's, with the same general size and compositional format, only he would mix up the color combinations and sometimes use horizontal lights instead of vertical ones, as he did in untitled (to Robert, Joe and Michael), 1975-1981.

In untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck and Leonard), on one side of the "wall", the lights are yellow and the other, pink. The lights cast their glow on the surrounding walls and the viewers perception of light and space change according to one's proximity to the lights, as well as the amount of time one spends in the corridor.
The present lot predates an important large-scale work--Flavin's installation in Marfa, Texas, untitled (Marfa Project). For that work, which created in eight U-shaped buildings, Flavin designed eight different variations on corridors, in which the lights either were at the middle of each corridor, or at the end.

Flavin did not name his sculptures, but would dedicate them, well after their creation--the present lot is named after Barry Whistler and Mike Dotzenrod, art handlers from the Fort Worth Art Museum, and Chuck Wallace and Leonard Torres, the electricians who first installed this work when it was first exhibited.

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