Dan Flavin ~ (to Donna) II and Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy

It's all about the light – that could be the subtitle of this post. With Dan Flavin (whether it's the Portland Art Museum's Unititled (to Donna) II or this image of Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy (the Diagonal of May 25, 1963) or any of his other more than 750 light sculptures), it's all about the light. Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy (the Diagonal of May 25, 1963) goes by many names. Sometimes it's listed as the Diagonal of May 25, 1963 and sometimes as the Diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi). By whichever name it's listed, this single flourescent tube is the first piece of sculpture Flavin created with just florescent lighting. Prior to that he had been combining both florescent and incandescent lighting in his works.

In 1964, Dan Flavin had this to say about this work and his use of light in general.

"The 'diagonal' in its overt simplicity was only the installation of a distended or luminous line of a standard industrial device. Little artistic craft could be possible." 'Craft', in its strict, traditional definition may be absent from Flavin's oeuvre, but creativity, vision, and intellect remain commanding forces, The 'diagonal' of which the artist speaks is one his seminal works, 'the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusci)' (1963). It presents nothing more than an eight foot long yellow - or "gold" - fluorescent light. This sparing composition was the result of a searching artistic exploration: the hunt for a format which "with obvious electric light ... could become my standard yet variable emblem—the 'icon'"

.
Hear Flavin give an abbreviated version of his artistic statement in this very brief video...


And as a continuation of this week's string of videos here's another from David Zwirner, NYC (Nov 2009). Thanks to Youtube we can all enjoy room after room of Flavin light.

Anish Kapoor ~ Hexagonal Mirror on 4, Brancusi on 1

This week's piece on Fifty Two Pieces is Anish Kapoor's Hexagonal Mirror, a highly reflective multi-faceted metal sculpture. Two days ago I posted about two other note-worthy sculptures, both of which are reflective metal. Tony Cragg's work is currently on display in the Portland Art Museum's main lobby. John Chamberlain's Neptune's Cap is unfortunately long gone. All three of these pieces are/were here on loan. However, PAM is fortunate to have Constantine Brancusi's A Muse completed in 1918 as part of its permanent collection. Museum patrons take note that this was a gift of Patron Sally Lewis back in 1959.























What these two images off the internet don't show is the truly amazing reflections on that highly polished bronze sculpture. Stand just right and you see the entire gallery behind you and yourself four times. You become the sculpture's muse or your own, however you choose to interpret that. You'll also notice that the images are reversed. Which one is correct? Always an interesting question on the internet. I'd recommend a trip to the museum, but for those of you who aren't in the immediate vicinity, I'll let you know that our Muse's dominant hand is the left one. I'm not certain what Brancusi would have thought of cyberspace but I'm thinking he probably would have been an eager beta tester.