Dan Flavin
Untitled

Untitled

© Stephen Flavin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Untitled
Untitled
ArtistAmerican, 1933–1996
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Untitled
Date1995
MediumUltra-violet, red, and green florescent light, edition 2/5
Dimensions8 × 48 1/8 × 4 in. (20.3 × 122.3 × 10.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Minnette Robinson
Object number2022.721
Not on view

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Object Type
Description


In 1963, Dan Flavin adopted fluorescent light as the primary medium for his art, employing standardized bulbs and confining himself to the limited palette and dimensions that were commercially available. Within this restricted vocabulary, however, he discovered a remarkable range of possibilities as he tapped into the optical dynamics embedded in these common and everyday materials. This untitled example, created a year before Flavin’s death, introduces an ultra-violet element that vividly sets off the green and red tubes, as color is cast upon a mural surface without boundaries, diffusing imperceptibly, and responding to the site-specific conditions of each installation.



ProvenanceThe artist; [PaceWildenstein, New York]; Minnette Robinson (1931–2022) and Jerome Robinson (1929–2009), Houston, 2002; given to the MFAH, 2022.
Exhibition HistoryDan Flavin: Recent Work, New York: PaceWildenstein, March 30–April 27, 1996.

Dan Flavin, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Centro Cultural Light, May 14–July 5, 1998 (another edition of same work).

Dan Flavin, Color/Light, Santa Fe, New Mexico: James Kelly Contemporary, August 14 – July 13, 2002 (another edition of same work).

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[none]
[none]
[none]
Catalogue raisonnéGovan, Michael and Tiffany Bell, eds., Dan Flavin: The Complete Lights 1961-1996, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004: p. 405, cat. 666.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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