.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
"Regard the light," Flavin declared, "and you are fascinated - practically inhibited from grasping its limits at each end" (Dan Flavin "in daylight or cool white" lecture given at the Brooklyn Museum School of Art, New York (18 December 1964), published in Artforum, December 1965).
untitled ("monument" for V. Tatlin) belongs to the most important series in Flavin's career. The series involves permutations in the arrangement of white fluorescent light tubes of the standard lengths (two-foot, four-foot, six-foot, and eight-foot) and varieties of white (daylight, cool white, and warm white) available commercially. These "monuments" are titled in homage to the Russian constructivist artist-designer Vladimir Tatlin who embraced industry and believed in the continuum of art and life. The artist admired the way in which the Russians, adopting more the role of engineers than that of the traditional artist, attempted to integrate art into everyday life; and in doing so had broken down the conventional boundaries between the viewer and the work. Tatlin's motto, "Real materials in real space," applies fittingly to Flavin's inventive use of commercially available industrial materials. This light-sculpture mimics the grandiose and utopian ideals that Tatlin and his Productivist colleagues pioneered and pursued in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
Flavin's untitled ("monument" for V. Tatlin) series is not an homage to the artist however, but a wry and poignant comment on the ultimate failure of the kind of modernist ideal for which Tatlin's art stood. Taking the form of a tower of light, Flavin's 'monuments' illuminate their environment with a sense of the feverish optimism and enthusiasm for the future that in Tatlin's time, for a brief but glorious moment, actually existed. The works mimic the structure of Tatlin's greatest unrealized project, his vast tower, the Monument to the Third Communist International. Therefore these works can be seen as 'monuments' to an idealized view of the future that was, perhaps inevitably, never to be. In this way they both gently mock and display a desire for the time when artists, with state support, formed the vanguard of societal change and stood on the threshold of the birth of a new world.
The ethereal and temporal nature of Flavin's untitled ("monument" for V. Tatlin)- the fact that their essential constituent is light (of a finite amount which will only shine for a limited period), both reflects and parody's this fleeting moment of utopianism and artistic possibility. It is also a poignant reminder of the sad fate that overtook many Soviet artists, not least Tatlin himself, who died in poverty and neglect, spurned by the state to which he had dedicated both his art and his life. "I always refer to these 'monuments' in quotes, Flavin has explained, "in order to emphasize the ironic humor of temporary monuments. These "monuments" only survive as long as the light system is useful (2,100 hours)"
Flavin's adoption of the light tube as his medium is derived from Russian art. Before arriving at the simple, shop-bought, fluorescent light tube as the fundamental element of his art, Flavin had worked with sculptural forms that he referred to as "icons". Like Malevich's Black Square, the literal corner-stone and building block of a new "Supreme" form of painting in a dimensionless world, Flavin's illuminated "icons" sought through light, to merge the world of the viewer and the art work. To demonstrate the dimensionless spatial innovation of his work Malevich had exhibited his Black Square across the corner of the gallery space. Tatlin's corner relief's went even further actually breaking down the gallery space and integrating it into the logic of his sculptures. Flavin's light sculpture is in many ways the conclusion of this tradition. By disrupting and altering the gallery space with his work, Flavin was able to avoid situating his work as a "sacred" art object on the middle of the wall.
With his use of light tubes, the physical, material nature of the art object dissolves and merges into its environment and altering the world of the viewer. The cool white light and striking geometric composition of "monument" for V. Tatlin exemplifies the simplicity and elegance of Flavin's luminous creations.
untitled ("monument" for V. Tatlin) belongs to the most important series in Flavin's career. The series involves permutations in the arrangement of white fluorescent light tubes of the standard lengths (two-foot, four-foot, six-foot, and eight-foot) and varieties of white (daylight, cool white, and warm white) available commercially. These "monuments" are titled in homage to the Russian constructivist artist-designer Vladimir Tatlin who embraced industry and believed in the continuum of art and life. The artist admired the way in which the Russians, adopting more the role of engineers than that of the traditional artist, attempted to integrate art into everyday life; and in doing so had broken down the conventional boundaries between the viewer and the work. Tatlin's motto, "Real materials in real space," applies fittingly to Flavin's inventive use of commercially available industrial materials. This light-sculpture mimics the grandiose and utopian ideals that Tatlin and his Productivist colleagues pioneered and pursued in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
Flavin's untitled ("monument" for V. Tatlin) series is not an homage to the artist however, but a wry and poignant comment on the ultimate failure of the kind of modernist ideal for which Tatlin's art stood. Taking the form of a tower of light, Flavin's 'monuments' illuminate their environment with a sense of the feverish optimism and enthusiasm for the future that in Tatlin's time, for a brief but glorious moment, actually existed. The works mimic the structure of Tatlin's greatest unrealized project, his vast tower, the Monument to the Third Communist International. Therefore these works can be seen as 'monuments' to an idealized view of the future that was, perhaps inevitably, never to be. In this way they both gently mock and display a desire for the time when artists, with state support, formed the vanguard of societal change and stood on the threshold of the birth of a new world.
The ethereal and temporal nature of Flavin's untitled ("monument" for V. Tatlin)- the fact that their essential constituent is light (of a finite amount which will only shine for a limited period), both reflects and parody's this fleeting moment of utopianism and artistic possibility. It is also a poignant reminder of the sad fate that overtook many Soviet artists, not least Tatlin himself, who died in poverty and neglect, spurned by the state to which he had dedicated both his art and his life. "I always refer to these 'monuments' in quotes, Flavin has explained, "in order to emphasize the ironic humor of temporary monuments. These "monuments" only survive as long as the light system is useful (2,100 hours)"
Flavin's adoption of the light tube as his medium is derived from Russian art. Before arriving at the simple, shop-bought, fluorescent light tube as the fundamental element of his art, Flavin had worked with sculptural forms that he referred to as "icons". Like Malevich's Black Square, the literal corner-stone and building block of a new "Supreme" form of painting in a dimensionless world, Flavin's illuminated "icons" sought through light, to merge the world of the viewer and the art work. To demonstrate the dimensionless spatial innovation of his work Malevich had exhibited his Black Square across the corner of the gallery space. Tatlin's corner relief's went even further actually breaking down the gallery space and integrating it into the logic of his sculptures. Flavin's light sculpture is in many ways the conclusion of this tradition. By disrupting and altering the gallery space with his work, Flavin was able to avoid situating his work as a "sacred" art object on the middle of the wall.
With his use of light tubes, the physical, material nature of the art object dissolves and merges into its environment and altering the world of the viewer. The cool white light and striking geometric composition of "monument" for V. Tatlin exemplifies the simplicity and elegance of Flavin's luminous creations.