Alex carey student blog : September 2013

During my visit to the Tate Modern, the section that stood out to me the most was the structure and clarity exhibition, Dan Flavin was the artist that caught my attention over any of the other artists. In my opinion it wasn’t like most of the conventional themes and artwork I experienced. It seemed to have a strong link with the theme of the exhibition “structure and clarity” as the use of large florescent lights arranged in simple linear forms had a clear link to its title.

Dan Flavins exhibition in the structure and clarity section stood out to me not just because of the bright fluorescent light bulbs, but in the first room the colours combined with how they were positioned and the layout worked well with each other, for example blue and red were formed together in a T shape, this worked well as the colours didn’t clash and didn’t over power one other, the other four T shapes created all used the same technique. Experiencing the second room it was still equally striking as the first, even though the fluorescent bulbs were all white. The environment they were in also played a big part, as the light was reflecting heavily against the white walls, this changed the room colour which not only added to the experience but also made it part of the medium chosen by Dan Flavin and his exhibition. The arrangement of the bulbs in the second room also had connotations to buildings or sky scrapers, as one in particular reminded me of the empire state building, this got me thinking deeper about the sculptures as they also made me think of billboards or American diner signs, this suggest the artists background having a huge influence on his work as he was born and raised in new York city from 1933 – 1996 so he experienced a lot of the bright bold American advertisements first hand.

In conclusion experiencing this exhibition first hand has influenced me to widen my skills and experiment with larger mediums such as sculptures but incorporate elements that may not been seen in many 3D pieces, also it has shown me that simple things can stand out much more than complicated art pieces, as well as using the environment around you to add to your creation or work.