DAN FLAVIN (1933-1996) "MONUMENT" FOR V. TAIT

Provenance
Leo Castelli Gallery, NEW YORK

Exhibited
LOS ANGELES, Museum of Contemporary Art, TEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY, April 21-June 17, 1984 WASHINGTON D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, September 29-November 25, 1984 CORDEAUX, CAPC, Musée d'art Contemporain, March 1-April 28, 1985 and OTTERLO, Rijkmuseum Kröller-Müller, November 23, 1985-January 12, 1986, "MONUMENTS" FOR V. TAITLIN FROM DAN FLAVIN 1963-1984, (another example exhibited)
HOUSTON, Museum of Fine Arts, March 3-May 2, 1999 and FLUSHING, Queens Museum, May 21-September 15, 2000, ART AT WORK: FORTY YEARS OF THE CHASE MANHATTAN COLLECTION (another example exhibited)

Literature
LOS ANGELES, Museum of Contemporary Art, Donald Young Gallery and Leo Castelli Gallery, eds., DAN FLAVIN: "MONUMENTS FOR V. TAITLIN FROM DAN FLAVIN 1964-1982, LOS ANGELES-CHICAGO-NEW YORK, 1989, n.p., no. 52 (illustrated) and no. 49 (sketch of work illustrated)
H. Froning, "Museum Folkwang Essen: Neuerwerbungen," WALLRAF RICHARTZ-JAHRBÜCH: JAHRBÜCH FUR KUNST GESCHICHTE, no. 59, 1998, p. 327 (illustrated)
Centre Georges Pompidou, eds., CINQUANTE ESPÉCES D'ESPECES: OEUVRES DU CENTRE GEORGE POMPIDOU, MUSÉE NATIONAL D'ART MODERNE, PARIS, 1998, p. 74 (illustrated)
M.Govan and T. Bell, DAN FLAVIN: THE COMPLETE LIGHTS 1961-1996, NEW YORK-NEW HAVEN-LONDON, 2004, p. 267, no. 163

FLAVIN MAKES INSTANT MONUMENTS, THE "INSTANT" MAKES FLAVIN'S WORK A PART OF TIME RATHER THAN SPACE. TIME BECOMES A PLACE MINUS MOTION….A MILLION YEARS IS CONTAINED IN A SECOND, YET WE TEND TO FORGET THE SECOND AS SOON AS IT HAPPENS. FLAVIN'S DESTRUCTION OF CLASSICAL TIME AND SPACE IS BASED ON AN ENTIRELY NEW NOTION OF THE STRUCTURE OF MATTER.
J. Flam, ROBERT SMITHSON: THE COLLECTED WRITINGS, LOS ANGELES, 1996, p.11

In 1962, Camilla Gray published the book THE GREAT EXPERIMENT: RUSSIAN ART 1863-1922.The publication sparkedarenewed fascination in the short period of artistic achievement in Russia beginning shortly before the Revolution and ending abruptly around the mid-1920s. This publication would inspire Dan Flavin to create one of his most recognizable and sustained series of works. Dedicated to Russian Constructivist Vladimir Taitlin, Dan Flavin's "MONUMENT" FOR V. TAITLIN series was conceived in 1964 as a series of sketches that would become light sculptures that continued to be fabricated until as late as 1990. The "Monuments" series are described by M. Govan as, "[grasping] both the potential and incompleteness of the Russian Rrevolutionary ideals, as expressed in Gray's influential publication" and idea that was also understood by his contemporaries. (M. Govan, DIA BEACON p. 45). The monuments series also posses an air of humor and irony in that Flavin elaborates on in the statement

MY CONCERN FOR THE THOUGHT OF RUSSIAN ARTIST-DESIGNER VLADIMIR TAITLIN, WAS PROMPTED BY THE MAN'S FRUSTRATED, INSISTENT ATTITUDE TO ATTEMPT TO COMBINE ARTISTRY AND ENGINEERING. THE PSEUDOMONUMENTS STRUCTURAL DESIGNS FOR CLEAR BUT TEMPORARY COOL WHITE FLUORESCENT LIGHTING, WERE TO HONOR THE ARTIST IRONICALLY.
D. Flavin, 1972

I ALWAYS USE 'MONUMENTS' IN QUOTES TO EMPHASIZE THE IRONIC HUMOR OF TEMPORARY MONUMENTS. THESE 'MONUMENTS' ONLY SURVIVE AS LONG AS THE LIGHT SYSTEM IS USEFUL.
Dan Flavin taken from M. Govan, DIA BEACON, NEW YORK, 2003, p. 140

Flavin presented his appropriation of commercial light fixtures—quintessential products of our industrialized society—not as a timeless celebration of a revolutionary culture, as Taitlin's work was intended to be but ontological fact, tangible and temporal. He used his humorous historical reference to Taitlin precisely to separate his work from the kind of symbolic significance to which Taitlin aspired. (ibid.).

Despite his outspoken declaration of the irony present in each of the 'monument' works as well as his statements that seem to refuse the attachment of symbolic or referential significance, "It is what it is….Everything is clearly, openly, plainly delivered. There is no overwhelming spirituality you are supposed to come in contact with" (ibid., p. 139).

One cannot help but feel that "it" is more than what "it" is. In the present lot, the cool white fluorescent light emanates a radiance that transforms the surrounding exhibition space, enveloping the viewer in a glow that is both soothing visually as well as creating a sense of tranquility that blurs the boundaries of where the work and space, begin and end. The composition of the fluorescent tubes and the resulting luminescence create sensorial impressions that "hover between materiality/immateriality, between physical presence/spiritual presence, between literalness/figurativeness" (J. Moyne taken from LIGHT PIECES, LUXEMBOURG, 2000, n.p).