James Elkins, E.C. Chadbourne Chair of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, joins Donato Loia, the 2019-2020 Vivian L. Smith Fellow at the Menil Collection, for a conversation about Dan Flavin’s Untitled (To Barbara Wool), 1970, and the complicated relationship between art, religion, and spirituality in the twentieth century. Currently installed in the Menil Collection as part of the modern and contemporary art galleries, Untitled (To Barbara Wool)—one of Flavin’s iconic works—showcases themes often found in his art: the use of light and mass-produced fluorescent tubes, the rise of industrial materials to the status of art, and the implicit reference to a religious aesthetic.
A short Q&A will follow the conversation. You are invited to submit your questions in advance and during the program to [email protected].
About the speakers: