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Lot Essay
East New York Shrine, 1964 relates to the artist's preceding works in light called "icons" for which he developed witty and poetic dedications. Flavin continued to dedicate his work throughout his career, but rarely with the sentiment and humor of the early period. The present sculpture is dedicated to the great New York dealer Dick Belamy, an early champion of the work. "When Dick Belamy first visited me (in 1961) he paced from room to room delightedly for sometime, and then announced that he wished he could transport the entire apartment to his new Green Gallery." (B. Smith, Dan Flavin, florescent light, etc. from Dan Flavin), p.14.
With the Virgin Mother luminously aglow atop a POPE tomato paste can, Holy Mother bridges the spiritual with the mundane: a perfect Pop mix of high and low imagery executed with humor and poetry. "Created by an artist steeped in traditions of art and canons of Catholicism, Flavin's works offer nothing less than a reconsideration and deconstruction of art's past through both the systematic use of form and light and the tool of irony." (ibid).
With the Virgin Mother luminously aglow atop a POPE tomato paste can, Holy Mother bridges the spiritual with the mundane: a perfect Pop mix of high and low imagery executed with humor and poetry. "Created by an artist steeped in traditions of art and canons of Catholicism, Flavin's works offer nothing less than a reconsideration and deconstruction of art's past through both the systematic use of form and light and the tool of irony." (ibid).