NARRATOR:
This is one of several “disc paintings” that Robert Irwin did in the late 1960s. It’s not really a painting at all, but it’s also not exactly a sculpture. Irwin created a convex acrylic disc that could be attached to a wall without the method of attachment being visible to the viewer. The disc appears to hover in space, an effect heightened by the overlapping shadows. These are created by two low-intensity spotlights shining on the disc. The exact placement of these lights for proper effect is specified by the artist. The lights erase the edges of the acrylic, dissolving the disc in light even as it protrudes from the wall. These disc paintings blur the distinction between painting and sculpture, projecting a feeling of infinite space and light.
At the time, Irwin was interested in Minimalism, a style characterized by hard-edged, geometric forms, complete lack of narrative content, and a finish that shows no trace of the artist’s hand. Over the course of his career, he has explored human perception in many large-scale installations that have become synonymous with the exploration of light and space that has preoccupied Southern California artists since the 1960s.
Untitled
1967-68
Robert Irwin (American, 1928-2023)
On View
Robert Irwin first experimented with electric light in his series of “disc paintings,” produced between 1966 and 1969. This ushered in the artist’s environmental, experiential practice for which he is best known. Four commercially available light fixtures catch the large discs—one of aluminum and one of transparent acrylic—in their crossbeams, casting four interlocking shadows on the wall. Irwin used industrial and automotive fabrication methods to achieve the discs’ precise forms, allowing for a choreographed play of light and shadow intended to throw traditional boundaries of art into question. Where do these works of art end? The discs’ physical edges? The dissipation of their shadows? The corners of the gallery walls?
Details
- Artist Name: Robert Irwin (American, 1928-2023)
- Title: Untitled
- Date: 1967-68
- Medium: Acrylic lacquer on formed acrylic plastic (with central band)
- Dimensions: 54 in. diameter (137.2 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Museum Purchase, Fellows Acquisition Fund
- Accession Number: P.1969.065
- Copyright: © Robert Irwin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object Information
Robert Irwin, sold 1969/05/26 to;
Fellows of the Pasadena Art Museum, given 1969/06/04 to;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1969-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena.
Fellows of the Pasadena Art Museum, given 1969/06/04 to;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1969-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena.
Robert Irwin
- Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1993-06-20 to 1993-08-15
- Kölnischer Kunstverein, 1994-03-15 to 1994-05-15
- Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, 1994-06-22 to 1994-09-30
- Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1995-01-31 to 1995-04-17
Selections from the Permanent Collection and the Norton Simon Museum
- Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1989-02-05 to 1989-05-28
Otis: Nine Decades of Los Angeles Art
- Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, 2006-01-20 to 2006-04-02
See the Light: The Luminist Tradition in American Art
- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 2012-10-13 to 2013-01-28
American Art Since 1950 from the Norton Simon Museum
- Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1990-06-30 to 1990-09-09
West Coast 1945-1969
- Pasadena Art Museum, 1969-11-24 to 1970-01-18
American Art of the 1960s from the Norton Simon Museum
- Los Angeles, The Temporary Contemporary, 1990-03-13 to 1990-06-13
- Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.), 1988-10-04 to 1989-02-05
46 N. Los Robles: A History of The Pasadena Art Museum
- USC Pacific Asia Museum, 2011-11-17 to 2012-04-08
Made in America: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture from the Norton Simon Museum
- Norton Simon Museum, 1999-06-24 to 2000-03-26
Radical Past: Contemporary Art and Music in Pasadena, 1960-1974
- Norton Simon Museum, 1999-02-07 to 1999-06-06
- Armory Center for the Arts, 1999-02-07 to 1999-04-11
- Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, Calif.), 1999-02-07 to 1999-04-25
- Musée d' Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Robert Irwin, pp. 81, 90
- Pasadena Art Museum, West Coast 1945-1969, 1969,
- The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Robert Irwin, 1994, pp. 117, 192
- Armory Center for the Arts/Art Center College of Design, Radical Past: Contemporary Art & Music in Pasadena, 1960-1974, 1999, pp. 53, 108
- Humblet, Claudine, La Nouvelle Abstraction Américaine 1950-1970, 2003, Vol. III p. 1649
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