Andrew Lambirth is entranced by the central purity of Dan Flavin’s installations
Many artists are involved to a greater or lesser degree with the depiction of light, but Dan Flavin (1933–96) made it his exclusive subject, and in the process was responsible for the apotheosis of the humble fluorescent tube. As an artist, Flavin was largely untaught, though he attended art history classes at Columbia University and drew passionately from an early age. He made his first light piece from a ready-made yellow fluorescent tube, entitled ‘The Diagonal of May 25, 1963’ and dedicated to Brancusi. It was exhibited the same year, and at once usefully associated Flavin with both Duchamp, king of the ready-made, and minimalism, the art movement promoting ‘less is more’ that was just then catching the eye of the discerning and fashion-conscious. Although Flavin was later to react against the minimalist label, insisting that he was an altogether more expansive artist, the categorisation has stuck.
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