WASHINGTON, DC.- Two iconic works by Dan Flavin (American, b. New York, 19331996) from the collection of the
Smithsonians Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden will be on view through Nov. 15. untitled (to Helga and Carlo, with respect and affection) (1974) and monument for V. Tatlin (1967) are examples of two of the artists most renowned series, the barriers and the monuments, respectively.
A leading figure of Minimal art, Flavin used mass-produced fluorescent light fixtures to make sculptural installations in which light is the primary medium. By blurring the boundary between artwork and environment, he challenged the definition of sculpture as a discrete object. While each of the monuments has a fixed form, the barrier works are what the artist called situational, not site-specific but responsive to the proportions of the spaces in which they are displayed. untitled is a freestanding work that extends diagonally for 92 feet across the gallery, prohibiting access to part of the space and filling the room with blue light.
This installation of untitled is the largest configuration of this barrier that has ever been shown, said Evelyn Hankins, Hirshhorn curator. This is also the first time the work has been exhibited in the Lower Level galleries, which are rectangular instead of curved, creating a different relationship between the artwork and the space.
untitled is paired with the wall-mounted monument, which consists of white bulbs. monument is named for Russian modernist Vladimir Tatlin, whose unbuilt Monument to the Third International spurred the experiments of the Constructivists. First installed in 1975 at the Kunsthalle Basel, untitled is dedicated to Carlo Huber, who was director there, and his wife, Helga.