Dan Flavin, Untitled (to Ksenija), 1985, fluorescent light, 96" high
Tucked away in the back room at Andrea Rosen, in the company of an unremarkable group of minor works by Andre, LeWitt, Mangold and Ryman, is this Flavin piece. It's sometimes easy to dismiss these works now as iconic relics -- but in the context of the utterly dry work by his compadres, and the lackluster summer shows in general, this pure piece of oozing light and color takes on a particularly welcome enveloping sensuality. You can call this Minimalism if you want, but its effect is maximal, and as vital now as ever.
I hate to even mention it, but in stark contrast, the main gallery features a big show of drawings by John Currin that, with only a few exceptions, looks like the work of a very facile adolescent boy who has only been exposed to Playboy and Norman Rockwell.
