Dan Flavin
Dan Flavin (actually Daniel Nicholas Flavin, born April 1, 1933, Jamaica, Queens, New York City; † November 29, 1996 in Riverhead, New York, USA ) was an artist of minimalism, who achieved worldwide fame in particular due to its light installations.
Life
Flavin attended from 1947 to 1952, the " Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception " and the " seminary " in Brooklyn, New York City. After graduating from high school there in 1953 Flavin began training as an aviation weather forecasters; in this area, he worked for the U.S. Air Force in the headquarters of the Fifth Force in Osan -Ni, Korea. From 1954 to 1955 he attended the "University of Maryland Adult Extension Program " in Korea part.
Even as a child artistically gifted, Flavin studied art and art history in 1956 at the New School for Social Research, and from 1957 to 1959 at Columbia University in New York and took courses at the " Hans Hoffman School of Fine Arts". He then worked for a short time at various New York museums.
Presented for the first time in 1961 Flavin installations that included the electric light. He specialized in working with fluorescent lights and showed in 1963 exclusively Light art, often in thematic series, which were under the aspect of spatial perception and were dedicated in many cases certain individuals.
The peculiarity of the art Flavinschen let the viewer itself to art, by changing the light color of his skin and his clothing. In 1963 he had his breakthrough thanks to the diagonal from the May 25 In 1964 he presented his first fluorescent tubes in an exhibition and began his work on Monument to V. Tatlin, a multipart series of white tubes. In the same year his son Stephen was born after he had married in 1961 Sonja Severdija.
In the following years Flavin further developed his style and has participated in numerous exhibitions, including at the two documenten in 1968 and 1977 in Kassel.
He received the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture in 1983 and was able to install a permanent installation in Bridgehampton.
In private life he became ill after his separation from his first wife (1979 ) of diabetes and married 1992, the American artist Tracy Harris. Flavin died in 1996 in Riverhead, New York. Three of his works have been carried out only after his death, for example, untitled ( for Janet Chamberlain ).
Works (selection)
- Monument on Mrs. Reppien 's Survival, fluorescent tubes, 11 × 301 cm; In 1966.
- Untitled ( for Janet Chamberlain ). In this work, Dan Flavin was in 1995, involved in the planning of an extension of the hypo - tower in Munich, called the Hypo Center East. The work was then reacted posthumously in 1998. At the bottom of a staircase, colorful fluorescent tubes are attached, each floor has its own associated color.
Public collections
- Modern Art Gallery, Schaffhausen
- Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
- Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
Exhibitions (selection)
- 2007: Pinakothek der Moderne - Retrospective
- 2012/13: Dan Flavin. Lights, Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna, October 13, 2012 to February 3, 2013 | Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, 16 March to 18 August 2013