The archives of the Saint Louis Art Museum have been a major resource as we’ve prepared Dan Flavin: Constructed Light, largely because they have so much material related to Flavin’s exhibition at SLAM in 1973. Soon you can find the best of the best “from the vault” on our Flavin web catalogue, notably the recording of a radio interview Flavin gave when he was promoting the St. Louis show. Most of this interview hasn’t been heard since it was broadcast on KFUO in ‘73, and some of it was never broadcast at all.

In addition to the SLAM exhibition, Flavin discusses his responsibilities as an artist, the motivation behind his use of fluorescent light, his opinion of the term “minimalist,” and the extent to which he welcomed the “religious associations” sometimes prompted by his work.

Until now, to hear the whole recording you had to have a reel-to-reel. In the web catalogue you’ll find — what else? — clear, accessible digital audio. So stay tuned. In a couple of weeks: Dan Flavin in his own words.

As Camran mentioned in his last post (and one of the reasons why my posts have been fewer the last few weeks), we’re busy with the production of our print and online catalogues for Flavin. Right now we’re in the thick of the editing stages which means a lot of back and forth and a lot of eyes to make sure that everything is cited correctly and there are no typos. We’re aiming for the first half of April to have everything up and running.  In the meantime, Camran will be writing soon about some exciting source material he found at the Saint Louis Art Museum. This will be appearing on our web catalogue and will be available for the first time since 1973…

This week in the Village Voice R.C. Baker writes up the Flavin show at Zwirner & Wirth in New York City. His verdict: “it’s the freshest, most challenging and uplifting exhibition in town.” That’s really saying something, especially since it’s a recreation of Flavin’s exhibition at the Green Gallery in 1964.

You might say the Pulitzer takes the opposite tack with Flavin. Instead of recreating a historic installation, we’re presenting a totally new one. The difficulty (and necessity) of installing thoroughly situational art in the absence of the artist is an issue at the heart of both the print and web publications we’re preparing to release early in April. Keep an eye out for them. And if you can, go see Flavin in New York!

Tim recently forwarded me a paper he received from a local university student.  She wrote about her visit to the Pulitzer’s Minimalism and Beyond exhibition for a class.  It’s a great description of her personal experience here — she did an amazing job of describing what it’s like to explore the galleries.   One of the latest projects Tim and Lisa are working on is how to measure the quality of a visitor’s visit vs. simply measuring the quantity of visitors coming through the door.  This paper gives some nice feedback on the quality of one student’s visit here, and I know there will be future posts from both Tim and Lisa as they delve into this issue more.  So here’s her paper.  It’s long, so this will be part 1 of 3:

Upon entering the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts building, it is not quite clear what Tadao Ando’s intention was or how it was accomplished, and the only function you are aware of is that of displaying art.  The space seems so complex in that there are so many options, and you are not sure where to go or if you are even allowed to follow some of the paths available.  As you journey through this space, however, the purpose and function becomes evident. It is this journey that the viewer experiences that seems to fulfill the purpose and serve the function of this amazingly intricate space and it is only at the end of the voyage that the whole purpose is realized.  Through this journey you begin to understand that you experience each space in relation to another; what you perceive comes from what you have just seen before.  The building is imbalanced and asymmetrical and the effect is that you are forced to perceive everything in comparison to the others.  The Relationships between the art and architecture and between you and the art are what the journey is about.

At first things seem so simple with the building being composed of and filled with the basic materials of concrete, light, water, and metal, but their complex use is what provides the space’s with its overall feeling; the use of light and water bring a tranquil feeling to the space while the use of metal and concrete provide an urban feel.  So, right away the space sets the mood, but the purpose is still to be discovered.

As you make your way through the building you are led into a double-height, central space where a wall of windows reveals a soothing scene of a terrace and reflecting pool. Two doors supply entrée to this outer space. The main gallery in the east division presents a constant flow of space that travels nearly the full length of the building. Its light is natural and comes from a row of windows that face the pool and west branch of the building. From here, a stair descends to an impressive double-height area with a narrow skylight. The stairs face a wall that displays the two-paneled Ellsworth Kelly piece titled Blue Black, which was specifically commissioned for this space. The skylight is directly above the Kelly piece and as the light from the window changes so does the painting.  If one were to see this painting during the high point of the day they would see a bright blue panel contrasted with a dark black panel, but if one were to see this painting at night the entire piece would appear to be solid black.  This seemingly simple piece of art that appears to consist of nothing more than a rectangle and two basic and unchanging colors is really a complex member of a grander piece of art with a shifting appearance and range of colors.  This piece of art is not solid in form, but changing; its purpose is to materialize itself differently according to the light.

Part 2 coming soon…

So, as you may have figured out from my not-so-subtle tease in the last post, our next exhibition is going to consist of works by Dan Flavin.  We’ve shown a work of his once before - in the Minimalism and Beyond exhibition - but this time, his works will fill our entire building.  The focus will be on the interaction between his florescent light works and the way natural light plays into the architecture of the Pulitzer building.   We did a time lapse of the way light interacts in the building, back during our Sugimoto exhibition.  Take a look.   We’re thinking of doing something like this again for the Flavin catalogue too….

Today’s been busy and full of meetings, so I apologize in advance for what’s going to be a pretty short non-post. We just finished up with our staff meeting, and about to go into another meeting to hear further details about our next exhibition. The bosses just came back from a trip where further concepts and plans were discussed, and we’re about to be filled in. However, I can tease you right now with what we already do know — that this next exhibition will fill our galleries with works by this artist…

Courtney, who’s handling the coordination of our new docent program, received a really nice email from someone who took part in the first tour last week.  She said she wouldn’t mind if we shared it, so here it is:

Hi Courtney,

Just wanted to thank you & Tim for a very special Saturday afternoon. Docents ‘Exploring Art’ at the Pulitzer and Art Museum was a stroke of creative genius. I really admire the amount of work and planning that went into this adventure.  You guided the process so that it evolved in a natural way. Over the years I have taken Art Appreciation & History classes, docent led tours [& some I led myself] but I never learned how to directly engage the works of art. Being able to discuss your reaction with others was also refreshing. I did not need a vast art background to appreciate, compare, contrast, and see relationships between the works and with those at the Art Museum.

I actually learned to directly engage and filter the works of art through my experiences. This is a very contemporary approach and process that allows the viewer to arrive at a new way of thinking. The rewards of experiencing such an engagement with art are that it opens doors to seeing art and contemporary life differently.

The Pulitzer is taking a visit to an art museum to new levels and deeper layers.

I would love to participate in a Saturday afternoon that traveled between the Pulitzer & Kemper.

Thanks again; I hope to participate a few more times.

The Pulitzer has begun another experiment in the ways visitors can experience our building and installations. Beginning last Saturday, and continuing every Saturday through the end of the “Water” exhibition, we are offering a new kind of tour. Visitors, accompanied by 2 docents, explore the Pulitzer developing their own impressions of what they see. We then discuss what was found to be easy to relate to and what was not so easy. Connections between works, such as symbolism, are looked for as well as the impact of juxtaposing certain pieces with others. The entire group then travels to the Saint Louis Art Museum where works are selected and viewed to further the interests brought out at the Pulitzer. One of the most exciting aspects of this touring style is that every tour is different; not being scripted, but driven by the discussions that evolve from the group’s exploration.

We hope to continue this program with subsequent installations and to branch into other venues as well.

If this sounds like a way in which you and your friends or just you would like to spend a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, contact Courtney at chenson@pulitzerarts.org   Tell her you want to explore art.

For your Friday afternoon reading pleasure: the West End Word had a really nice feature yesterday on the Water exhibition. Take a look here.

For my Friday afternoon reading, I’m going to look through this packet of information that was put together for our gallery assistants. They’ve been reading it to get some background on the different works in the show. All the gallery assistants are really knowledgeable about each of our exhibitions, and do a really good job of answering questions our visitors have about the art. I need to be sure that I can do the same….

One of the many things we’re working on after the opening of Water is the free booklet that will be provided at the front desk when visitors come see the exhibition. This booklet has to wait until the exhibition opens, so we can include installation views of the artwork in the galleries, since this is such a key aspect to all of our exhibitions.

We now have all the photography completed, and it looks great. We have a big meeting tomorrow with our print company to discuss layout options and how the content will fit in with the images. Here’s a peek at one of the installation views that Robert Pettus took of the exhibition, that will most likely make it into the booklet: