Amah-Rose Abrams is a British writer, editor and broadcaster covering arts and culture based in London. In her decade plus career she has covered and broken arts stories all over the world and has interviewed artists including Marina Abramovic, Nan Goldin, Ai Weiwei, Lubaina Himid and Herzog & de Meuron.
What Dan Flavin did with a simple neon strip light seems almost a form of magic when we see it today. Instantly recognisable as a unique, conceptual work of art, each piece was constructed from standard lighting tubes, which are available in a very limited number of sizes and colours. By operating within the constraints of his chosen material, Flavin was able to create a lifetime’s body of work.
Josef Helfenstein, the outgoing director of Kunstmuseum Basel, had planned to stage a Flavin exhibition since he took on the role in 2016. ‘She did everything that's done by hand,’ explains curator Olga Osadtschy. ‘At the beginning, Flavin would construct these icons; you can see them in the Judd Foundation, for example. They are square objects made of wood or linoleum with lamps protruding out of them and she would build those. So everything where you would need a hammer or a screwdriver, that's her.’
A work dedicated to McGovern is displayed in a room with Flavin’s preparatory drawings, instructions for assembling editions of the work and a collection of drawings by Swiss Renaissance mercenary, goldsmith and artist Urs Graf, by whom Flavin was fascinated and inspired.Untitled