Al Riwaq, Qatar Museums Gallery, is currently housing an exhibition displaying the work of renowned American artists Dan Flavin and Donald Judd. The show is organised by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in partnership with Qatar Museums. Curated by Michael Govan (LACMA’s CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director) and Jennifer King (Associate Curator at LACMA), the exhibition will end on 24 February 2024.
Flavin and Judd were considered two of the founders of the Minimalism art movement that rejected traditional notions of painting and sculpture and focused on experiencing real space and materials. The exhibition invites one to admire Flavin’s and Judd’s creations (60 in total) from the 1960s to the 1990s and consider the artists’ shared engagement with material, colour, and form. The displayed artworks are borrowed not only from Qatar Museums’ collection but also from the Dan Flavin Estate, the Judd Foundation, and other institutions as well as private collections.
© 2023 Stephen Flavin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: David Zwirner.
The show comprises three sections. The central one occupies three galleries featuring works by both artists, demonstrating their intersecting concerns and practices. The other two galleries are dedicated separately to each artist. The exhibition’s highlights include, for example, the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi) (1963), Flavin’s early lightwork inspired by Romanian artist and photographer Constantin Brancusi’s work. On view is also Flavin’s alternating pink and “gold” (1976), a large-scale installation. Among Judd’s art pieces on display are untitled (1964) (it marks his transition between painting and sculpture) and untitled (1986) (his largest wall work in plywood and plexiglass comprising thirty units).
Marieluise Hessel Collection, Hessel Museum of Art, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
Photo: Timothy Doyon. © Judd Foundation. Donald Judd Art © Judd Foundation / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
About the artists
Dan Flavin (b. 1933, Jamaica, New York, USA — 1996) was famous for his sculptural objects and installations made using fluorescent light tubes. He studied for the priesthood before enlisting in the US Air Force. During military service (1954–55), Flavin studied art through the University of Maryland Extension Program in Korea. When he returned to NY in 1956, he attended the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts and studied art history at the New School for Social Research. In 1959, the artist studied painting and drawing at Columbia University.
The Dan Flavin Estate. Courtesy of David Zwirner. © 2023 Stephen Flavin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: David Zwirner.
Flavin’s early works were drawings and paintings influenced by Abstract Expressionism. In 1959, he began to create assemblages and mixed media collages featuring found objects. In 1961, the artist started to employ electric lighting in his practice and by 1963, he worked exclusively with coloured light tubes. Arranging them into differing geometric compositions, Flavin produced illuminated sculptures which offered a rigorous formal and conceptual investigation of space and light. He established several standard forms for his work, such as standing lights in corners or hanging them off the wall, which he dubbed Corner Pieces, Barriers, and Corridors.
Donald Judd (b. 1928, Excelsior Springs, Missouri, USA – 1994), an artist, art critic, and writer, received a BS degree in Philosophy from Columbia University (New York, USA) in 1953. In 1963, he obtained an MFA in Art History from the same university. While studying, Judd attended classes at the Art Students League of New York.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Philip Johnson.
Although Judd, who wrote one of the most important texts on Minimalism (Specific Objects, 1965), is considered a prominent figure of the movement, he denied this classification. Initially an abstract painter, in the 60s, he started to create large-scale and unadorned sculptures, using industrial materials (galvanised iron, aluminium, stainless steel, brass, copper, etc.). His artworks were based on the box form (alone or in a series of modules). They were hung from the ceiling, mounted on the wall, or installed directly on the floor. Like other Minimalists, Judd carefully considered the environment to which his sculptures were introduced. Apart from sculptures, he also produced furniture.
To get more information about the Dan Flavin / Donald Judd exhibition, please visit its official web page.
You might also be interested in looking at Pipilotti Rist’s installation titled Your Brain to Me, My Brain to You.
