Art Hag

I find it impossible not to be seduced by the mesmerizing glow of any of Dan Flavin's (1933-1996) light installations. That's why Paula Cooper's new exhibit featuring four of Flavin's early works, created between 1972-1975, was one of my first stops at the beginning of this new gallery season.

According to the show's press release, Flavin was interested in "activating sculptural space with color and light. By the late 1960s he had developed a wide-ranging set of possibilities for integrating his lights within the three-dimensions of architecture. These possibilities included engaging the floor, ceiling and corners of the exhibition space; taking advantage of architectural features such as doorways and moldings; fencing off segments of the exhibition space with 'barriers' of light; and, by the time of his 1969 retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada, developing special installations, or 'situations,' consisting of specially constructed architectural spaces containing room-filling light."

The first gallery at Paula Cooper features three of the four works on view. The earliest, from 1964, being an 8-foot-tall, vertical piece consisting of pink, white, and yellow lights. The other two works are corner pieces—the taller of the two resembles a capital letter "i" featuring a horizontal yellow light on the top and bottom of the piece which is back-lit by one long, vertical pink light. The smaller of the two corner pieces is shaped like a cross with a pink light in front lying horizontally and a yellow light in the back standing vertically. The main gallery space features the massive "barred corridor" piece, untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck and Leonard) (1972-1975), an 8-foot x 8-foot installation consisting of a vertical row of back-to-back pink and yellow lights sandwiched smack in the center of two white walls. Not exhibited since 1999, the piece blinds you with either yellow lights on one side or pink lights on the other. Through the bars of intense light, you can see the soft glow and reflections of the reverse side's lights - layering foreground and background colors in the white, enclosed environment. While spare and minimal, Flavin's works are amazingly powerful and stunning. Learn more at paulacoopergallery.com. Through October 30th.

Untitled, 1969