DAN FLAVIN at Paula Cooper

Dan Flavin, Untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck and Leonard), 1972-75, 8ft x 8ft installed in corridor, yellow & pink flourescent light fixtures

Dan Flavin, Untitled, 1969, 96 x 24 inches, yellow & pink flourescent light fixtures

An exhibition of four works by Dan Flavin at Paula Cooper (through October 30) presents a fairly rare opportunity to glimpse the genius of Flavin's contribution. Each of the four pieces, made of pink and yellow flourescent fixtures, offers a simple iconic configuration that activates the space with maximum color intensity. The most elaborate work in the show is the 8ft square "barred corridor" piece, in which a grid of pink lights faces one direction, backed by yellow lights facing the other direction, built into a long corridor. From one end of the corridor, the space is bathed in yellow, with a sort of afterglow of pink in the spaces of the grid. From the other side, the space is pink with yellow undertones. Such direct and elegant formal solutions, yielding spatial experiences of extreme sensuality, set Flavin's best work apart from the dry austerity that characterizes much of the work of his compadres.

Summer - Light & Color

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.

Just Back from HOUSTON

Menil Collection: installation with Barnett Newman

Menil Collection: installation with Yves Klein and Barnett Newman

Menil Collection: site specific piece by Dan Flavin

I try to get down to Houston a couple of times a year. I’m usually so busy when I’m there that I don't have enough time to fully peruse all the galleries and museums. I read somewhere that Houston is the third largest art scene in the US, after NY and LA, in terms of number of venues; and I am always astonished by the depth and quality of the work I encounter there, particularly where abstract painting is concerned. On this trip, my time was very short, but I always reserve a few hours to check in with what I consider to be the real jewel of Houston, the Menil Collection. This amazing collection really affirms Houston as a world class art city, and is so deep and vital that it requires multiple and repeated visits. The main building contains the galleries for rotating shows, as well as the wonderful contemporary collection. There is usually only a small sliver of the collection visible, and it changes much less frequently than I would like; but the work is always presented in a sensitive and engaging way that not only utilizes the beautiful space and natural light of the galleries, but also presents interesting intelligent resonances and conversations among the works, without didacticism. In the same neighborhood as the main galleries, are numerous buildings that highlight special aspects of the collection, including a fantastic Dan Flavin installation in a huge warehouse space, the indescribably beautiful Cy Twombly Gallery, and of course the Rothko Chapel.

Cy Twombly, Say Goodbye, Catullus, to the Shores of Asia Minor, 1994, 13ft x 52ft (Detail)

I think the Twombly Gallery, designed by Renzo Piano, is the most gorgeous exhibition space I’ve ever seen – all natural light, thick raw plaster walls that are so sensuously cool and smooth they demand your caress. The majority of Twombly’s most important paintings (through the mid-‘90s) are here including the 1959 sparse monochromes, Bay of Naples and several related works, the brilliant suite of green landscapes on shaped panels, numerous “blackboard” paintings, and the magnificent Say Goodbye….. completed in 1994.

Rothko Chapel (Detail)

Back in the early '70s when the Rothko Chapel opened, I made the trip to see it -- and ponder it. Since then, I’ve been there dozens of times; and each and every time it’s a different experience. These are among the most enigmatic paintings ever made. Their appearance is constantly altered by the changing light in the chapel – on cloudy days, they look so dark and brooding that you can hardly focus on them – when the sun is bright, they radiate variations of a deep wine red/black, and the surfaces are alive with touch. My feelings about these paintings have vacillated from visit to visit. Initially, I was blown away by their sheer presence – at other times I have felt that they are overwrought or ungiving – but they always insisted on continued dialogue. Over the past fifteen years or so, I have come to regard these paintings as THE defining achievement of the post-WWII generation, and as the single most uncompromising statement in Modern (or contemporary) painting.