Untitled (to Barnett Newman to commemorate his simple problem, red, yellow and blue) 1970

Curator: This is Dan Flavin’s “Untitled (to Barnett Newman to commemorate his simple problem, red, yellow and blue)” from 1970. What do you make of it? Editor: Immediately, I’m struck by the aura. It's almost like a deconstructed chapel, but the colors evoke a nightclub atmosphere. Curator: Flavin's work frequently engages with spaces, often transforming them through simple gestures. This piece, crafted from commercially available fluorescent light tubes, specifically responds to the legacy of Barnett Newman. Editor: So the seemingly arbitrary use of red, yellow, and blue is actually loaded. Tell me more about the symbolism behind this homage. Curator: Newman's practice dealt with the sublime through often monumental color fields, reflecting on human existence. Flavin takes Newman’s exploration of color and essence but manifests it with readily available industrial material, thereby democratizing the sublime. The light emanates, staining the surrounding architecture—a bold and beautiful comment on societal conditions for accessing art. Editor: It's interesting how the simplicity of the medium, the humble fluorescent tube, can generate such complex layers of meaning. There's a sense of both celebration and critique here. A feeling of both sacredness and profanity too, wouldn't you agree? Curator: Exactly! This gets into a postmodern dilemma, if the sublime or any cultural phenomenon is just another mass-produced element. Can its origins in popular society democratize our interaction with its message? Or is there always something lost in translation, especially when put in conversation with history? Editor: Perhaps the tension between the everyday and the profound *is* the point. These colors might trigger cultural memories tied to specific eras or movements. Colors aren’t neutral. It is interesting that they take up these mythic qualities to carry symbolic freight. Curator: Indeed. Looking at this piece through an intersectional lens, one can consider how the use of industrial materials, typically associated with masculinity, interacts with the effervescent, almost ephemeral nature of light. There's a tension there, reflecting broader power dynamics. Editor: I see what you mean. Thinking about this piece, I keep coming back to the interplay of light and shadow, how they alter our perception of the surrounding space and its symbols. It really invites you to contemplate its shifting cultural codes. Curator: For me, revisiting this work underlines how deeply connected abstraction can be to social and political discourse. Editor: Absolutely. And that's how a work rooted in memory may speak eloquently to future cultural production.