DAN FLAVIN / DONALD JUDD:
Sculpture and Works on Paper

March 23 - June 2001

A collaborative exhibition of both sculpture and works on paper by the seminal Minimal artists Dan Flavin and Donald Judd is currently on view at Brooke Alexander and Leo Castelli Gallery. Each of the two galleries has worked with both artists and their estates for many years and continue this tradition today. The exhibition explores a broad range of the artists' works and various mediums including sculpture, drawings and prints; from the cool fluorescent installations of Dan Flavin to the highly polished aluminum and Plexiglas sculptures of Donald Judd and his boldly graphic woodcuts.

A unique highlight of the exhibition is the observation of the familiarity and fondness the artists shared with each other, both in their personal and creative lives, such as with the set of seven color lithographs by Dan Flavin entitled, To Donald Judd, Colorist. In addition, a major installation of Flavin's work is currently on view at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, a former military base that Donald Judd converted into an exhibition space.

Donald Judd's use of three-dimensional space, simple solid form and color in an extremely reduced, delicate manner explores the implied relationships between the object, space and the viewer. Through his combination of shape, color and materials, the sculpture has the ability to empower its own presence. Similarly, Dan Flavin's sculptures of patterns of fluorescent lights also alter perspective, perception, and form. His arrangements of vertical and horizontal lights reflect not only the often overlooked beauty of industrial elements, but allow the reflected light and corresponding shadows to become as equally important to the work as its primary parts.