Core II

Variety Stage Sound Recordings and Motion Pictures

Cartoon Drawings: Swann Collection of Caricature and Cartoon

Posters: Performing Arts Posters

Posters: Artist Posters

Lars Schmidt Collection

The focus of this essay is geared towards the works of Dan Flavin and his emphasis on color within his artworks. Dan Flavin's light artworks stand out in galleries and public spaces for his experimental use of fluorescent lighting and bright colors. Flavin’s use of color and sculpture transforms the space it is in by offering a soft diffusion of light and engaging with its surroundings. Due to his groundbreaking structures, this makes Dan Flavin a pioneer who influenced major artists like James Turrell and Jenny Holzer.

Dan Flavin started making art made with light bulbs in 1961 after a series of drawings and paintings, and by 1963 he began using his iconic fluorescent tubes as his medium. Flavin was restricted to colors other than red, blue, green, pink, yellow, ultraviolet, and white(Bell, Govan, p.19). By restricting himself he explored the identities and space of color. He started by experimenting with the color green in one of his projects because to him “it is a pleasant color.. Brillitan as fluorescent light and soft in the total barrier” (Bell, Govan, p.58). After noticing that the Green light from one of his projects changed into a rose color as a person turned towards the sunlight, Flavin then realized that the “relative and continuously changing visual perception of the color of ambient light” was “another extension of the artistic properties “ (Bell, Govan, p.58) of Flavin's light-colored spaces.

Flavin expanded his art by including architecture with colored fluorescent lights. Considered “barriers”, this physically puts color in the same room with its viewer, almost as if it's another person in the same room. As color fills the room it “engulfs its audience” all while the “mixing of colors literally occurs in space” (Salomon, p.964). Flavin’s art is more than just looking at a lamp, the colored light occupies every inch of the room and interacts with the audience and the space surrounding it. Through adding color and architecture, Flavin reveals the functionality behind the aesthetics of colored fluorescent lights. He understood that color can create a “variety of moods and atmospheres” (Salomon, p.965). Flavin revealed colors' true physical and mental form, rather than keeping color in one box he left it out in the open to swallow the room whole.

Being able to change how people perceive what some may consider “just a colored lamp” is a grand achievement. To Dan Flavin, it was not just about color. It was how color can change rooms and feelings, to emphasize how color ruled his world. To be able to feel color and not just “see” it, is what many people experienced when they walked into one of Dan Flavins' exhibitions.

Citations

David Salomon (2014) Fluorescent architecture, or, Dan Flavin at the supermarket, The Journal of Architecture, 19:6, 949-974, DOI: 10.1080/13602365.2014.987532

On my hour-long walk within the quiet and cookie-cutter suburban life that my parents currently reside in, I could not help but notice a reoccurring pattern. That is the bleak colors of what was once a forest with tall pine trees, doe's, and birds now sits a site some consider "urban hell".

Whether it was the sky reflecting the colors of the neighborhood or just the color palette of a new society of houses, it was all the same colors. The houses, hedges, trash bins, driveways, mailboxes were all the same mundane color scheme. Nothing stood out and everything blended together. I can construct a story of a small, boring, and average life beyond the walls of the "perfect" suburban house in the middle class.

In a world where the HOA can fine you out of a few hundred dollars for simply leaving your trash bin unattended for a few days in a row or for planting flowers that do not comply with their aesthetics, there are very few colors that stood out to me within my environment. Though a color I noticed first was Green. The lawns are all the same bright green color with minimal lawns meeting the unnatural color expectations. I assume water bills are high just to meet the same color swatch every other person has on their property. I also noticed Gray second. Gray driveways, sidewalks, lamp posts, and mailboxes. So boring, so mundane. One would think that color was illegal in gated communities.

I noticed one of the most natural of colors last while on my walk, which was Brown. Every brick on the exterior of the houses was a shade of Brown, every front door was dark brown oak, and every garage door was painted with one paint shade throughout the neighborhood. Color does not appear to change during my walk. Everything was muddied together almost like a dirty stream in the Ozarks.

i. Shoes

Black, the color I wear on my feet every day. Well worn in, off white dingy laces, scuffed soles, and yet there is still life left to give each time I wrap the laces around each other to head out into the world. Neutral is it’s personality, which is why it deserves much appreciation from the wearer, with seemingly “nothing to wear” at all times. 

ii. Cellphone

Black and an off-black to match with it, is my phone. Covered in a case that has seen its’ better days, the phone looks relatively new since its’ purchase about a year ago. Under the cases’ skin, stickers litter the surface of the back of my phone. The contents within hold laughter, embarrassment, and experiences to be relived over and over again. 

iii. Purse

A faux leather satchel with a sling on it to walk around with only my basic necessities when out and about is what I take with me whenever I need. I can see the small creases around the corners from the love the previous owner gave to the bag, silver buttons and clasps are on the surface, and small interior pockets line the inside of my bag. Only holding my wallet and keys, I am free from responsibilities until I return back to my room. 

iv. Pens

Stationary devices that guide my adventure through my college life. Higher quality pens were purchased in the ice box that is New York City. As they sit in my pencil box in a bag I carry almost daily, they provide a sense of relief as I dig through my bag to scribble a quick thought or deadline. The click that is released as I use the pen gives me a sense of satisfaction, it sounds like a muted popping sound. Black pens are needed every where and is debated within the corporate world if Black or Navy pens are the “right” ones to use.

v. Backpack

Once a Black backpack, now an off-Black almost gray, is what I have used for the last 9 years of my academic career. Through thick and thin, rain and sun, and of course its’ heavy contents from time to time, my Jansport backpack has its’ battle scars and even a small slit on the bottom left side from who knows where and how. It slouches as it has lost its structure long ago, but it is now molded to my own vertebrae

vi. Keyboard

The black keyboard coated in little white scribbles sits within my laptop. Used daily, I depend on it to get me through my daily studies and nonstop stream of assignments. Thin keys are squished by my fingers, making a light clicking noise with every letter that is pressed. I have grown so used to my own keyboard that typing on raised keyboards can be a challenge as I have to make more of an effort to move my fingers when typing. 

vii. Luggage

The large Black, almost ominous, suitcase rests in my dorm rooms’ closet. Covered in geometric raised lines and a slightly glittery skin. Taken on a recent trip, it has small white scuffs on the bottom side most likely due to airport attendants trying to get through their shift. It is missing its’ carry on twin, and because of that I am on the hunt for it to fill the missing piece. 

 viii. TV Monitor

A small black tv monitor rests on my desk, the screen often lit during the night hours. Bright LED’s hum and create a small bright bubble around me when I study. Often turned on to give me company as I type away my assignments, it has become my friend when no one on my floor is awake.

ix. Coffee cart

Three feet tall and circular, a round coffee cart with three shelves and four wheels sits next to my desk. Holding my Keurig, sugar, teas and coffees I rely on it to create a warm atmosphere to my cold and white dorm room. The top shelf it tells a story with small coffee rings and sugar particles. 

x. Bed