It is what it is, Dan Flavin at the Hayward

I think I went to the Dan Flavin exhibition at the Hayward too early on a Monday morning because my eyes were so sensitive to the light that I could only take 40 minutes in of this stunning show.

As soon as you enter the exhibition it’s as if you immediately transcend into a futuristic, disco glowing, geometric green field of kryptonite. And immediately you want to “oooh and ahhh”...and put on sunglasses.


I was not at all familiar with Flavin’s work but knew that of his friends and contemporaries, Donald Judd and Carl Andre. I have to say I wasn’t an avid fan of American Minimalism until I saw Flavin’s work. I think it’s fascinating and full of energy in the literal and metaphorical sense. Flavin’s work is what it is: aesthetically pretty installations of light, but it’s more than that too. He’s not just whacking up light bulbs, he’s consciously considering colour, space and shadow, and however the simplicity comes across, the intelligence of those matters are also apparent. It’s like he’s painting with light and it creates something very lovely and almost audio. I can’t remember if you can hear the buzz of the light bulbs but I felt like it created something musical.

I enjoyed the sketches and drafts that were on display, I spent probably more time looking at these, as I said, it was very early and very bright for a Monday. But in these framed pages was a peak into the thought process and planning for the installations which was a great insight into the light constructions.

I love how Flavin named his work, usually personal acknowledgements to his friends or interests. There didn’t seem to always be a link between the name and the actual work, but I like that too. Some of them are called:

• the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi)


• pink out of a corner (to Jasper Johns)


• monument 4 for those who have been killed in ambush (to P.K. who reminded me about death)


• untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection)
  1973

Flavin was born in Queens, NY in 1933. Besides doing a few art courses at Columbia he had no formal art education. I was intrigued to find before he became an artist he was studying to be a priest. He died in 1996.

I found this quote of his about his work and think it sums up the show. Check it out it’s at the Hayward until April 2 and it’s half price on Mondays, just don’t go too early...

It is what it is, and it ain’t nothin’ else. . . .  There is no overwhelming spirituality you are supposed to come into contact with. . . . It’s in a sense a ‘get-in-get-out’ situation. And it is very easy to understand. One might not think of light as a matter of fact, but I do. And it is, as I said, as plain and open and direct an art as you will ever find.” [1]
—Dan Flavin