Minimalist artist Dan Flavin spent his career exploring the possibilities of fluorescent light and its ability to impact the human psyche. A new retrospective at Kunstmuseum Basel explores the breadth of his creation, bringing together 58 works by the maestro to shine a new light on his practice and its real-life influences.
Dan Flavin. Dedications in Light showcases 58 artworks, many of which have never been seen in Switzerland. Among them are 35 of his seminal light installations – but rather than focus on their industrial minimalist aesthetic, curators Josef Helfenstein, Olga Osadtschy, and Elena Degen emphasise the titles and socio-political context of the works to unpack their meaning.
Among Flavin’s explicit influences were his friends, Jasper Johns, Sol LeWitt and Donald Judd, to whom several of the works are dedicated, and historic modernists like Henri Matisse and Vladimir Tatlin.
Dan Flavin, untitled (to Don Judd, colorist) 1-5, 1987. Photography: Florian Holzherr. © Stephen Flavin / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. Panza Collection, Mendrisio.
Dan Flavin, untitled (to Barnett Newman) one, 1971. Photography: Florian Holzherr. © Stephen Flavin / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. Collection Carré d’Art-Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes.
Dan Flavin, “monument” 7 for V. Tatlin, 1964. Photography: Florian Holzherr. © Stephen Flavin / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. Bavarian State Painting Collections – Modern Art Collection in the Pinakothek der Moderne Munich, 2002 by PIN. Friends of the Pinakothek der Moderne.
Dan Flavin, untitled (to a man, George McGovern) 2, 1972. Photography: Florian Holzherr. © Stephen Flavin / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Dan Flavin, Untitled. In memory of Urs Graf, 1972 Concept / 1975 Execution. Photography: Florian Holzherr. © Stephen Flavin / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. Kunstmuseum Basel, Gift of the Dia Art Foundation, New York.
Dan Flavin, Untitled. In memory of Urs Graf, 1972 Concept / 1975 Execution. Photography: Florian Holzherr. © Stephen Flavin / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. Kunstmuseum Basel, Gift of the Dia Art Foundation, New York.
Dan Flavin, Apollinaire wounded (to Ward Jackson), 1959. Photography: Florian Holzherr. © Stephen Flavin / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. The Dan Flavin Estate, courtesy
Other references nod to the Vietnam War, which Flavin was vehemently opposed to, such as ‘monument 4 those who have been killed in ambush (to P.K. who reminded me about death)‘ produced in 1966, featuring interlocking red neon bars of light.
Flavin insisted that his art was meant to be perceived in passing and eschewed the idea that it had a deeper spiritual meaning. ‘It is what it is, and it ain’t nothin’ else,’ he famously declared. However, his naming process reveals there is ample meaning to be found beneath the surface.
The curators explain: ‘These dedications stand in deliberate contrast with the anonymity of the material. By integrating them into his titles, Flavin anchored the non-narrative and impersonal works in a specific aesthetic, political, and social context.’
In addition to the 35 neon lightworks, a number of drawings, portraits, and notebooks are also on display, adding context to the glowing installations. This is the first exhibition of Flavin’s work in Switzerland for 12 years.
Dan Flavin. Dedications in Light runs until 18 August 2024 at Kunstmuseum Basel | Neubau
