For Circular Flourescent Light

Dan Flavins For Circular Flourescent Light from 1975 is an etching that translates the artists fluorescent light installations into the medium of print, creating a two-dimensional record of a three-dimensional luminous experience. The etching depicts a circular arrangement of fluorescent tubes, their circular form rendered in the crisp lines and subtle tonal range that etching allows, producing an image that is both a documentation of a specific installation and an independent work of art. Flavins titles always used the dedication format for, indicating that the work is offered to or in honor of someone or something, and this particular dedication to the circular form acknowledges the specific geometry of the fluorescent tube arrangement it depicts. The choice of etching as a medium is characteristic of Flavins engagement with printmaking as a way of making his light installations portable and collectible, extending their reach beyond the site-specific installations that could only be experienced in person. The white wove paper provides a neutral ground that allows the circular form to float in space, suggesting the way the actual fluorescent installation would dominate and define the space it occupies. Flavins characteristic misspelling of fluorescent as flourescent in the title is preserved as part of the works identity, a small gesture of anti-monumental informality in an art of rigorous geometry.

Flavins prints extend the reach of his site-specific light installations into the collectible medium of works on paper, influencing the way Minimalist artists thought about documentation, multiplicity, and the relationship between temporary installations and permanent objects.

An etching by Flavin depicting a circular fluorescent light arrangement, translating his site-specific light installations into the portable medium of print while preserving the geometric rigor and dedication format characteristic of his practice.