Robert Irwin: 'Blue Lou 2'

From the gallery:

Arts & Culture

San Diego artist Robert Irwin, pioneer of 'Light and Space,' dies at 95

Julia Dixon Evans

Listen • 1:23

ONE, Quint’s Logan Heights satellite space, will exhibit Light & Space artist Robert Irwin’s #7 x 8' (Blue Lou 2), a 2015 work which reflects his ongoing exploration of light, shadow, reflection, and color as material and tools for perception. Blue Lou 2 stems from the artist’s return to a studio practice which experiments with sculpture employing vertically-mounted fluorescent light bulbs wrapped in layers of theatrical gels, while continuing to expand upon his installation practice.

Irwin’s inquiries into perception have expanded the definition of artmarking to include “site-conditional” art, which responds to the surrounding environment while drawing attention away from the materials themselves and removing the separation between the artwork and the space itself. These ephemeral viewing experiences and architectural interventions in both indoor and outdoor sites have defined his 60-year career and enduring legacy in contemporary art.

About the artist:

Local

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla reopens to the public

Julia Dixon Evans

Listen • 4:46

Born in 1928 in Long Beach, California and a longtime resident of San Diego, Robert Irwin has completed numerous permanent installations around the world, including 1° 2° 3° 4° (1997) at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, which blurred the space between the gallery and ocean by cutting four windows to expose the space to exterior light, air, smells, and sounds. In 2016, Irwin’s large-scale permanent installation and courtyard design Untitled (dawn to dusk) opened at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, occupying a dilapidated former hospital building measuring approximately 10,000 square feet. Irwin divided the building’s interior into two wings—making one wing dark and the other light through the employment of evenly spaced windows and scrims bisecting each side. Irwin has also completed numerous site-conditioned landscape design projects, including the Central Gardens at the J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles and the plaza at the San Diego Federal Courthouse through the GSA Art + Architecture program, among others.

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