100 YEARS OF SCULPTURE: FROM THE PEDESTAL TO THE PIXEL
entrance | gallery one | gallery two | gallery three


 		GALLERY TWO: OFF THE PEDESTAL

In the early 20th century sculptors began to abandon REPRESENTATIONAL subjects and explore ABSTRACTION. They thought about sculpture as pure geometry, adopting new materials and techniques to render these forms. By the 1960s, artists often used industrially produced materials such as lead, steel, and plexiglass. These minimal sculptures consisting of a series of prefabricated, geometric forms lost their bases and were placed directly on the floor or on the wall.


Dan Flavin
"monument"
for V. Tatlin
As you walk up the stairs into Gallery 2, you'll see two of Dan Flavin's Minimal light sculptures to your right. Flavin uses his signature medium--store-bought fluorescent light tubes--in "monument" for V. Tatlin (1969), a stepped tower mounted on the wall, and untitled (1966), a square that spans a corner. Both of these sculptures make art-historical references to the Russian artist Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953), who made monochromatic corner sculptural reliefs and an unrealized spiral monument in the 1920s. The light emanating from these sculptures creates an atmosphere occupying much greater space than the fixtures themselves, engulfing the viewer in their glow and electrical hum.

Donald Judd
untitled


 On the back wall of Gallery 2 are two works by Donald Judd, a primary figure in MINIMALISM: untitled (1969/1982), a series of vertically stacked blue rectangular anodized aluminumboxes; and untitled (1965), a horizontal repetition of curved red galvanized steel forms. Judd wrote extensively on Minimalist strategies, championing the way in which these works occupy a shared space with the viewer and emphasizing the fact that the subject of this new art form was the work itself--its form, shape, color, and materials. Aisle (1981) by Carl Andre, another Minimalist, is also a horizontal repetition of identical units. Andre, however, uses a natural material, wood, and places the sculpture directly on the gallery floor.

Artists working over the past 20 years have responded to the dominance of Minimalism in the art world in various ways. Damien Hirst, whose Collective Memory Loss (1994) is on view to your right, calls on the serial modularity of Minimalism when he stacks plastic formaldehyde containers inside metal cages.


Rirkrit Tiravanija
Untitled, 1995
(Back of postcard reads:)
In the installation to your right, Untitled, 1995 (Back of postcard reads:) (1995), Rirkrit Tiravanija uses a Dan Flavin sculpture as a light, encouraging the viewer to interact with his work--feel free to stretch out and relax on the cot!



100 YEARS OF SCULPTURE: FROM THE PEDESTAL TO THE PIXEL
entrance | gallery one | gallery two | gallery three


View artworks of this
gallery not seen in QTVR
© 1998 Walker Art Center