Pivotal Role of Minimalism at the End of the Modern Period and the Use of Light in Dan Flavin Works

The 20th century is the modern age and the time for the realization of mankind's dreams, mankind who aided by his intellect and science, creates a new world and expands the different limits of his life's aspects with utmost speed. The changed modern world creates artists who in turn create new thoughts and ideas. In the beginning of the second half of the 20th century and in the aftermath of the first and second world wars, modernism falters and the age of doubt begins. The world faces enormous changes in the realms of thought, philosophy, art, politics and society, changes that challenge all the principles of modernism. These challenges result in the formation of new foundations and principles. In this time, minimalist sculpture with an abstract attitude is one of the most important fruits of modern art and rises with new meanings from the body of painting. Minimalism is a style that take into account material elements and abstain from subjectivity. The artists of this movement have an important role in the formation of new artistic concepts thru the publishing of numerous articles in art periodicals. These artists, under the influence of phenomenology, a branch of philosophy, and with an emphasis of the role of the spectator in lieu of the author, introduce a new way of seeing to the visual arts. Minimalist works of art are devoid of symbolism and through the use of factory products and by emphasizing its' process and procedures, are a representative of the principle of mass production that is a result of the industrial revolution on one hand, and on the other hand remind one of the structured and infinite whole of being, time and space via the repetition of structured units that are a reflection of infinity. The work of Dan Flavin, who is one of the most influential minimalist artists, reaches a unique character through the choice of fluorescent tubes. Flavin used fluorescent tubes, a commercial and industrial overhead light, and after 30 years of using this medium, changed the understanding of the spectator of light in space. With the use of this medium of light, Flavin reminded one of Marcel Duchamps' in the creation of ready mades, a creation that takes the authority of the object from that object. Flavin changes and influences architectural spaces with light installations, the effect of different lights and their reflection in space is not repeatable and foreseeable. He demonstrates his mastery of light and color in the largest scales and he is one of the first artists who created a path for environmental art and his art straddles the border between minimal art and conceptual art. This article introduces the minimalist movement as a vital point in the evolution of art in the 20th century, a movement that is influential in the transition from modernism to post-modernism. In this article we shall consider the theoretical discussions regarding minimalism and we shall analyze the concepts and principles of this movement in the art of Dan Flavin.