Dan Flavin Installation

Dan Flavin what can you say it is what it is. I was expecting several small pieces but instead got a large installation. which is fine but that’s about it kinda of a in and out thing. In my opinion waste of a large space.

The space is pretty large. Large enough to have a few sculptures yet they only have one. The museum assistant told us they had two Flavins, the rainbow one (once you enter) and another towards the back; yet, they recently removed it and placed it inside the actual museum.
All their is to see is the different colored lights and two empty galleries towards the back.
I’ve been lucky enough to experience a Dan Flavin show before, so I guess I might have been expecting a little more.
P. S. I can totally see this place been utilized for a cute/​artsy wedding reception!

I don’t get it, but okay. Art is left to the beauty of the beholder.
Concept: take an old grocery store (with parking inside the loop), add lots of coloured fluorescent lights and add air conditioning: VIOLA! ART!
Maybe I missed something. Yes, its pretty. But such a HUGE space inside the loop with actual parking. But for lights?
Dan Flavin — interesting concept, but really?
*shrug*

I like to discover things and places in my hometown that I can show off to visitors — this is NOT one of those places. Having decided to have an Art Day, I’m gratified that this place was my first stop — that way, the only way was up in terms of experiences.
The nondescript building faces busy Richmond Avenue — and its primary distinguishing feature is a neon green fluorescent edging along the top around the full building. When you walk in, it is a clear shot into the art space which consists of nothing but fluorescent tubing in four colors along the wall. There is a back room that is sparsely made up of white fluorescent bulbs. No tables, no chairs, nothing else but bulbs and bare concrete.
The bored-​looking docent told me that the building was originally a grocery store before conversion in 1997. That’s 17 years of this ridiculous art space. I think I’d find it more interesting as a grocery store posing as modern art. I told the docent that I did not envy his «prison sentence» of having to spend the full day (opens at 11 AM, closes at 7 PM) here. He quickly corrected me that he was only there for 1 hour since he was relieving the main docent. We both mentally pitied the main docent.
I was lucky in that I could leave after 5 minutes. But, if you don’t talk to the docent, you can be done in 3 minutes. I’d advise skipping this place and heading to the nearby Menil Collection for some real art.
Free admission but you’ll pay with a disappointed soul.

I decided to visit the Dan Flavin Installation after seeing it featured on the 365ThingsInHouston site. I was actually surprised I had not been here before. I have visited the Menil Collection many times before but somehow missed the Flavin Installation.
If you plan on visiting the Menil Collection this is a little separate from the Rothko Chapel… which is why I missed it the first time. This was my first Dan Flavin installation to visit and I would definitely be interested in seeing other work he has done. I found the use of the fluorescent lights in the main room to be so beautiful. There is a small separate room towards the back. I wasn’t blown away by those as much as the ones in the main room probably because my eye is naturally drawn to color. There is not much to the installation just the main room and the smaller space in the back.
I would say this is a great place to visit if you want to find something new to do in Houston! I came on a Sunday afternoon and walked around the area since it was a lovely day out. I wouldn’t visit the installation just by itself make sure to stop by The Menil Collection as well!
TIPS: DON’T TAKE PICTURES! I made the mistake of not asking before taking pictures and was scolded by the gentleman that was working.

Sorry but this is not art. If it was the Home Depot should be named the largest collection of art of our times. Sorry Dan, rest in peace.

I’m not a big art fan, but I totally enjoyed this space. I was at the Menil museum’s main collection and saw a pamphlet that mentioned this installation. I went here in the middle of the day on a Thursday and the place was empty except for the guy working (volunteering?) at the front desk. I felt like I had been transported into the movie Xanadu (
) with all the neon lights. I hadn’t heard of Dan Flavin before but have since learned that he has larger installation pieces in Marfa, Texas.
The room is huge, with neon lights down both sides of the room. There are black lights as well, and when we inquired why, the guy working there told us how they bring out the color of the neon lights. The whole thing is pretty cool. Then you go to the back room where there are only white neon lights making shapes that look like skyscrapers or rocket ships.
My cousin and I both liked the installation, but we also got caught up in the minutia of things like the length of the crazy tall fluorescent bulbs in the back room and the order of the colors. This installation isn’t for everyone, but it’s pretty cool to me!
FREE admission. Open Wednesday — Sunday.

The Flavin room is awesome. Too many reviewers seem to be expecting too much. The room is home to two installations, one of colored fluorescent lights, one of pure white lights. The installation is cavernous, empty, silent, and warm. It is not often one is able to literally walk inside art. Leave your expectations outside, and enjoy it for what it is.

My friends confusion of this installation space with a Fiesta grocery store, (it has a green neon strip around the roof) proved a bad omen.
I didn’t get inspired by this one room installation. Like, not love, might describe it, and I love dan flavin. Goddess rest his soul.

I finally got to go here the other day as part of a sculpture class. I have always wanted to go since it was next to my ex’s place, but he was allergic to being cultured.
At first I was completely unimpressed. Yay, another light installation with a ton of fluorescent bulbs! A ton of lights lining the walls of a giant room. Sure it was colorful, but seriously? Then I ended up in a discussion of the piece. Context is really what makes this piece work.
If you go be sure to pick up the pamphlet giving the history and description of the piece. It really does change your view.
I’m the freak who’s always looking up in buildings so be sure to look up at the skylight in the main room. The entire building is the piece, and you can’t forget details like that.
This isn’t my favorite light installation, but it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re at the Menil, or just need a place to reflect (the Rothko is really good for that too).

This is one of the most beautiful hidden gems in Houston. At first, sure, it just looks like lights along the wall, but move slightly to left or right, and they’ll start to reflect off of each other different ways. Different colors will come to the fore.
It is beautiful and meditative.
It also won’t take very long – sometimes I stop in for a moment when I’m having a bad day, and it’s calming and lovely and that’s all I need. You can do that, of course, because it’s free.
Come see it. It’s pretty.

So this exhibit is another part of the Menil Collection. It is at Richmond Hall which is just down the street from the main building.
This was almost as lame as the Cy Twombly Gallery.
It literally is just a bunch of neon lights lined up in different shapes. The space for it is cool but really?!
I understand Art is subjective. But how can someone think these exhibits are amazing?
At least both were FREE.

I should start by pointing out that I’m a huge fan of Flavin’s work, though until recently I hadn’t been fortunate enough to see it in person. So I was thrilled by the recent chance to see his Menil installation, while on a trip to Houston.
Obviously art is entirely subjective… and modern, minimalist work such as Flavin’s will always have its detractors: those who believe it’s lazy, or uninteresting, or «art for art’s sake.» Then there are those, like me, who see it as something entirely different: accessible, unpretentious, composed of simple elements and media available to anyone. To me, the most appealing thing about Flavin’s work is the way it brings together art and architecture in an immersive, minimalist way. I just love it.
But the best thing about Flavin’s work is the range of emotions it stirs. I find it interesting that some people would complain that visiting the Menil installation is a waste of time, then spend even more time writing about it on Unilocal.I mean, come on: it’s art, you don’t have to like it or to get it, but why take the time to bash it?
Anyway, this installation is a real treasure and something every Houstonian should take time to visit. It’s a little free-​of-​charge jewel that only takes a few minutes to appreciate. You may not like it – you may hate it – but at least you’ll have been exposed to a form of art that you hadn’t known about before. And maybe you’ll end up loving it, like me.

I was unimpressed, this huge space with colored flourescent lights on the the walls, they could have put other displays in the center of the room.
Thankfully the place is free and has it’s own lot but not worth going to, on it’s own. I can see it as a rental space for events and that as lighting and a conversation piece.
The rear room/​display of white flourescents lights were so so too.

This has got to be a huge practical joke, right?
The Flavin Installation is without a doubt the lamest, most pointlessly expensive «art» I have ever encountered. And I have been to many an installation and seen many a dud. We went in here a couple years back during a Menil trip, and as we came in we met the incredibly bored security guard who looked at us as if to say, welcome to my nightmare.
We looked out at the huge empty concrete room, with a few not very strategically placed colored lights stuck on the walls in boring order.
I looked at the guard. «Is the art in the back room?»
He looked at me like Bukowski when he realizes that the bars are all closed and he forgot to get a bottle to take home. «No, this is it.»
He seemed almost ashamed to say it, and I immediately felt for him. He has to endure the laughter and scorn of the (admittedly and understandably very few) folks who venture in here, as if he was responsible for this colossal waste of space and energy.
We did go into the back room, where Flavin displayed his staggering depth and range of vision by employing not colored tubes but, gasp, oh the genius, white ones! Also, alas, not organized in any unique or attractive way. It all felt like some sneaky dude had showed up with a few lights one day, stuck them on the wall in an hour, collected his check for a quarter million from some oil-​rich Houston dowager with a poodle who was told that this guy Flavin is the latest hot thing in the Art World, and hightailed it out of there to cash the check before the world saw what he’d done.
Then again, perhaps I am a heathen who has no clue what Art is. Could be, despite many weeks of delight in the Prado, Louvre, MOMA, etc etc. But having just spent four hours in the Menil and finding much to my liking, not just representational art but some interesting modern pieces as well, I was open-​minded and ready to be a fan o’ Flavin. But seeing as this is only the second review here, perhaps there aren’t too many fans of Flavin in Houston.
And rightfully so. This stuff may or may not be pretentious, a rip-​off, a massive prank/​statement on the hollowness of the big-​money art scenes where something is Art if you can get a rich sucker to pay for it. But it is definitely booooring. And a huge waste of space and electricity. About the only positive thing I can say about The Flavin Inhalation is that it’s a nice dark, cool space on a hot day. And that’s it. Oh yeah, clean washrooms too.
I finally couldn’t help myself. Standing in the middle of the empty room that someone had probably spent well over a million bucks building and heating and cooling over the years, I started laughing. The missus tried to stop me, but I couldn’t help it. This was like a New Yorker cartoon come to life, with someone saying, «Trust me, it’s Art. It has to be. It cost a fortune.»
And while cracking up, I looked out the corner of my eye at the guard, a little sad for him and afraid of demeaning his existence in this post-​modern talent vacuum. But not to worry. He suddenly cracked a wry grin. I walked over to him and said, «It’s a joke, right?»
He smiled a smile born of many highballs. «It’s whatever you want it to be.»
«Well, I want it to be interesting, arresting, informative, thought-​provoking, envelope-​pushing. But it’s still just boring and pointless.»
The guard smiled. «You wouldn’t be the first to feel that way.»
Then he went back to meditating on the blank wall and I thought, maybe he’s the real work of art here, and the lights are just to illuminate his existential angst in the midst of the chaotic modern world. The mind grasps at straws when confronted by the genius that is The Flavin. Hmm, maybe that’s the point.
Yes, modern art can make us question life and its meaning, but so can a trip to the corner store. I want some aesthetic wonder along with my questions, and the only wonder I left with from this most useless of all museums is how long it took for Flavin to cash the check and get the hell out of Dodge.
I wish I’d been at the opening of this turkey. Did anyone have the guts, champagne glass in hand, to say, «This Emperor is most thoroughly naked?» Or did they all just nod in thoughtful poses, fingers to lips, and pretend that they too understood the Genius of Flavin?
And of course the very best irony here is that Costanza’s favorite (fake) poet is Flavin. Preeecisely. Made me wonder if Larry David hadn’t wandered in here one day. I can’t wait to bring somebody here and build it up as the Greatest Museum In The World, just to see their face when they realize, this is it? I heartily recommend this prank; just try not to crack up in the first ten minutes while they tell you what it means. Maybe Flavin’s mom just wouldn’t buy him a Lite Brite set.
If you need a laugh about how utterly ridiculous the modern art scene can be, this is your place. But if you want to experience something artistically satisfying, stick to the Menil.