Light art: Daniel Flavin

Light Art episode 1: Daniel Nicholas Flavin Jr.

When the word “Art” is mentioned, the first things that come to mind are along the lines of painting, drawing, sculpting, photography, sometimes weird but fascinating creativity, the list goes on. This is as a result of the pieces famous artists, from time past, such as Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci have set forth throughout their artistic career. However Art, as described by the Merriam Webster Dictionary, is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” As paraphrased above, Art can be expressed in various ways, one being through the coordinated arrangement of an array of florescent tubes, the artist being Daniel Nicholas Flavin Jr.

Our celebrated artist was born to Catholic parents Daniel Nicholas Sr. and Viola Marion Bernzott on April 1^st, 1993 in Jamaica, NY present day Queens, NY. Mr. Daniel Nicholas Flavin Jr. alongside fraternal twin brother David John Flavin attended Saints Joachim and Anne Parochial School, in Queens, and graduated in 1947. In the year 1952, he graduates from Graduates from the high school department of the Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception Preparatory Seminary of Brooklyn, New York, then enlists with his brother in the United States Air Force, where he trained as an air weather meteorological technician, fulfilling approximately 4 years of service from 1953-1957. While stationed at Roselyn Air Force Base, he visited multiple galleries in NY, there his interests in art began to blossom. After his service ended, he attended Columbia University from 1957-1959 studying Art History in an effort to get a boost in his artistic side. While attending school, he held multiple low wage jobs, one being a guard and elevator operator at the Museum of Modern Art, where he met various influential figures such as Robert Mangold, future wife Sonja Severdija, etc in 1960. Gets a second guard job at the American Museum of Natural History in 1961, and gets his first solo exhibition that same year at the Judson Gallery, NY of collages and the water-colored painting he had been working on.

The year 1961 seemed like an iconic year for him given that he not only got his first solo exhibition, but also got married to Sonja Severdija, and began his “ICON” series with florescent light. Approximately 3 years later, his son is born on July 7^th, 1964 and he also gets a chance to show off his work in a solo exhibition at the Green Gallery, NY on November 18^th, 1964. With a recommendation from Marcel Duchamp, he goes on to receive an award bestowed upon him by the William & Norma Copley Foundation, based in Chicago. In 1966, he was the first individual to receive an award from the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities; Washington, D.C., which is not usually given to individual artists. On September 6^th that same year, his first European solo Exhibition is displayed at the Gallery de Rudolf Zwirner, in Cologne. On December 9^th, 1967, his first solo Museum exhibition is displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Chicago, and themed; Dan Flavin: alternating pink and ‘gold’. On September 13^th, 1969, he is honored with yet another exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa where his “Traveling Retrospective”, a display of his fluorescent light artwork is displayed.

As his passion and work with florescent light grew, so did his popularity and thus was given more and more exhibitions at various galleries and museums. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, his work with florescent light became a little more complex such as his “barred corridor” series and “corner installation” series. Throughout the 1990s, he is offered multiple exhibitions at larger galleries which he never failed to fill up with his works of Art. Before he passed away, he incorporates electric green and blue lights into his work, thus sprucing up the array of lights he intended to install before his abrupt death on November 29^th, 1996 in Riverhead, NY. His unfinished work was eventually brought to completion over the next 4 years and open to the general public.