DAN FLAVIN : GRIDS
Jan 16 - Feb 21, 2026
David Zwirner Gallery, 537 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011
It was a 'Grids' exhibition that made full use of the vast gallery space. Having usually seen only one or two of his pieces in permanent collections or museums, seeing an entire space filled like this felt entirely new and much more powerful. Although he has always been a favorite minimalist artist of mine, this show made me realize how the resonance of his work can change so significantly depending on the installation.
It was an opportunity to reaffirm that he remains the most preeminent representative of minimalism. I loved the exhibition so much that I visited twice. It was one of those rare shows where simply being in the space felt like a healing experience.
I also captured a video of the Dan Flavin exhibition. I feel that this show is best experienced through video to truly capture its unique atmosphere. Please check out my Instagram link below for the full experience.
GRIDS
댄 플래빈의 빛과 그리드
1963년, 벽에 대각선으로 설치된 단 하나의 황금색 형광등 작품인 <1963년 5월 25일의 대각선(콘스탄틴 브랑쿠시에게)>을 구상한 이후, 1996년 세상을 떠날 때까지 댄 플래빈은 시중에서 흔히 구할 수 있는 형광등을 사용해 빛과 색의 설치 작업(작가는 이를 '상황(situations)'이라 부르기를 선호했습니다)을 일관되게 이어왔습니다. 이러한 빛의 구조물을 통해 플래빈은 말 그대로 공간을 새롭게 규정하고 정립했습니다.
큐레이터 마이클 고반이 관찰했듯, '그리드(Grids)' 시리즈는 플래빈의 빛 작업 중에서도 가장 강렬하고 응축된 작업에 속합니다. 작가의 가장 복잡하고 미묘한 색채 탐구를 보여주는 이 구조물들은, 뒤를 향한 수직 조명과 앞을 향한 수평 조명을 같은 수로 배치하고 다양한 색상을 조합해 만들어집니다. 방의 구석(Corner)에 위치한 이 작품들은 색의 혼합을 관람객 쪽으로 투사하는 동시에 구석 안쪽으로도 쏘아 보내며, 그 공간의 건축적 조건을 선명하게 드러냅니다.
1960년대 후반의 '코너 스퀘어' 작업에서 발전한 이 그리드 시리즈는 플래빈이 평생 천착했던 현상학적, 합리적 고민을 동시에 담고 있습니다. 플래빈은 1978년 휘트니 미술관 관장에게 보낸 편지에서 자신의 그리드 작업을 이렇게 설명했습니다.
"그리드는 앞면과 뒷면의 풍부한 대비, 그리고 광학적 상호작용을 가지고 있습니다. 이 모든 것은 반사된 색의 혼합과 그리드 구조 자체의 그림자에 의해 변화하죠. 이 강렬한 형광등의 사용은 내 작업 중에서도 보기 드문 것입니다."
이번 전시에는 1976년 작가의 첫 그리드 연작인 <무제(메리 앤과 할에게 애정을 담아) 1, 2>가 포함됩니다. 8피트 크기의 이 두 정사각형 구조물은 분홍색과 녹색 형광등이 서로 반대 방향으로 교차 배치되어 있습니다. 또한, 1969년부터 작가를 지원했던 전설적인 딜러 레오 카스텔리(Leo Castelli)에게 헌정된 그리드 작품들도 만날 수 있습니다. 1977년 작인 <무제(당신에게, 레오, 오랜 존경과 애정을 담아)> 시리즈는 노랑, 파랑, 녹색, 분홍색 조명을 더 자유롭게 혼합하며 그리드 형식 내에서 크기와 척도(Scale)를 실험한 작가의 노력을 보여줍니다.
From 1963, when he conceived the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi), a single gold fluorescent lamp installed diagonally on a wall, until his death in 1996, Flavin produced a singularly consistent and prodigious body of work that utilized commercially available fluorescent lamps to create installations (or “situations,” as he preferred to call them) of light and color. Through these light constructions, Flavin was able to literally establish and redefine space.
As curator Michael Govan observes, the grids count “among the most intense and concentrated of Flavin’s lights.” Constituting one of the artist’s most complex and nuanced chromatic investigations, these constructions are composed of an equal number of vertical fixtures facing backwards and horizontal fixtures facing forwards in varying color combinations. Situated in the corner of a room, they simultaneously project a blend of colors outward towards the viewer and inward into the corner, highlighting the architectural conditions of the space.
More than almost any other format Flavin worked with, the grids—which grew out of his cornered squares of the late 1960s—simultaneously engage both the phenomenological and the rational concerns that were central to the artist’s practice. As he described in a 1978 letter to Thomas Armstrong, then the director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, who was in the process of acquiring a grid for the museum’s collection: “[The grid has] a rich contrast, front over rear, and an optical interplay … all modified by reflected color mixes and shadows of the grid structure itself. As an ensemble, this intense fluorescent light use abuse seems to me to be rare in my production. And I commend it all to you.”
Featured in the exhibition are Flavin’s first grids, untitled (for Mary Ann and Hal with fondest regards) 1 and 2 (both 1976), two eight-foot square constructions each composed of five pink lamps facing one direction and five green lamps facing the other in inverse configurations. These works debuted in Flavin’s solo exhibition at Otis Art Institute Gallery, Los Angeles in 1976 where they were installed kitty corner to one another in a single gallery—as they are here—and are dedicated to Hal Glicksman, who was at the time the gallery director, and his wife, Mary Ann.
A number of Flavin’s grids are dedicated to his longtime New York dealer, Leo Castelli, who began representing the artist in 1969. The exhibition will include untitled (for you, Leo, in long respect and affection) 1 and 2, two eight-foot grids from 1977 in which the artist begins to blend color more freely. First shown at Heiner Friedrich, Inc., in New York that year, these works each feature three yellow and three blue lamps facing one direction, and three green and three pink lamps facing the opposite direction. These constructions also represent Flavin’s first experimentations with scale in this format; the following year he made four-foot versions of these two works—untitled (for you, Leo, in long respect and affection) 3 and 4, which will also be on view—with four lamps facing outward and inward that he intended to be installed suspended across a corner.
미술관의 소장품으로만 만나던 댄 플래빈을 데이비드 즈워너의 압도적인 공간 안에서 오롯이 마주할 수 있어 너무나 좋은 경험이었어요. 단순한 형광등의 나열인 '그리드'가 벽면을 타고 번져나가며 공간의 경계를 허무는 순간, 전시는 비로소 하나의 거대한 '상황(Situation)'이 되었어요. 빛과 색이 겹겹이 쌓여 만들어내는 그 묘한 고요함 속에 머무는 것만으로도 충분한 위로가 되는 시간이었어요.
가장 단순한 재료로 가장 강렬한 울림을 주는 미니멀리즘의 정수를 다시금 확인하며, 빛이 머물던 그 따뜻한 잔상을 안고 전시장을 나섰어요. 두 번의 방문이 전혀 아깝지 않은, 올해 기억에 남을 소중한 기록이 될 것 같아요. 감사합니다.
It was an incredible experience to fully encounter Dan Flavin's work within the overwhelming space of David Zwirner, rather than seeing it only as part of a museum’s permanent collection. The moment the 'grids'—seemingly simple arrangements of fluorescent lamps—spread across the walls and blurred the boundaries of the space, the exhibition truly became one grand "Situation."
Simply staying within that peculiar silence, created by the layers of light and color, provided a profound sense of comfort. Reaffirming the essence of Minimalism—which delivers the most powerful resonance through the simplest materials—I left the gallery carrying the warm afterimage of the light. Visiting twice was well worth it, and I believe this will remain a precious memory and a highlight of this year. Thank you.