Details

Title

Untitled

Artist/Maker

Dan Flavin (American, 1933–1996)

Date

1969

Medium

Pink and green fluorescent lights, and metal

Dimensions

96 x 2 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches

Credit

Purchase with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Foundation

Accession #

1978.8

Location

Currently not on view

Christening his fluorescent tube sculptures “electric light icons,” or “proposals,” Dan Flavin rejected the term “sculpture” and instead described his objects as evocative of place rather than form—meditative in nature rather than didactic. Reflecting this, Untitled consists of two fluorescent tubes mounted back to back, resulting in reflected light on the walls, ceiling, and floor of the installation space. Flavin values the unique medium of fluorescent light for its “raw hardware . . . without additive values.” The tubes’ simplicity allows light to define its own space, altering the essence of the surrounding walls with its unexpected solidity.

Image Copyright

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