Architecture: A Form of Artistic Expression? - Essay Sample

Introduction

When people hear about architecture, the majority of them visualize buildings, skyscrapers, and other construction marvels. While the situation has improved currently, it is still a few individuals who consider architecture as a form of artistic expression. It is for this reason that most architects are not considered artists but rather held on the same respect as engineers and other scientists. Similarly, it is hard for architects and engineers to work with or combine their works with artists. Regardless of these disparities between the professions, some creative individuals have managed to combine art and architecture and in the process, commanded the world's attention. One such person is Dan Flavin, an American minimalist artist whose life and artwork will be explored in this discussion.

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Born in Jamaica, New York, in the year 1933, Dan Flavin lived within an Irish catholic family and thus attended a catholic school in his early years. During his first years, Flavin studied priesthood at the Immaculate Conception Preparatory Seminary located in Brooklyn. In 1952 young Flavin left the ministry to join his fraternal twin in enlisting in the army to fight in the war in Vietnam. He enlisted in the US Airforce, where he received training as a meteorological weather technician. During his military service, Flavin pursued his higher learning through the extension program by the University of Maryland in Korea. Upon return to New York in 1956, Flavin enlisted at Hanns Hoffman School of fine arts. He later moved to New York School for Social Research and, finally to Colombia, where, in hindsight, indeed discovered his purpose in sculpture and painting.

After his studies at Colombia University, Flavin slowly started to make assemblages, collages as well as draw paintings. Upon the review of his earlier pieces, one discovers that it was at this stage of his artistic career that the painter found his passion for abstract expressionism. In 1961, he presented his first solo show at the Judson Gallery in New York. A year later, while working as a guard at the American Museum of Natura history, he translated his sketches of sculptures in the museum into assemblages juxtaposed with electric lights. With time his mainstay shifted to the fluorescent lights, which by the end of 1968, the artist had now translated his art into a room-sized gallery of monochromatic painting.

By the 1980s, Favin had perfected his art and was now incorporating complex and dynamic fluorescent figurations. During this time, his most notable styles were the barred corridors and corner installations, which were intriguing, especially considering the uniqueness of his art from a contemporary art perspective. Gradually, Falavin's art concentrated on the incorporation of his fluorescent assemblages and his sculptures. In the 90s, the artwork had gained acclaim among the art-loving community and were now not meager light installations but grandiose pieces of art.

His reputation and craftsmanship had grown so much that in 1992, he filled the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum with bright fluorescence that took advantage of the architecture of the museum (Alberro, 1997). By the late 90s, Falavian's skill with lights and architecture had blossomed, and he even introduced electric green and blue lights at the Dia Art Foundation. Other notable sites for architectural interventions include Berlin's Hamburger Bahnof and Texas' Chianti Foundation. In the recent past, major retrospectives of the artist's original work have been organized by the national gallery in Canada, St Lous Art museum in 1973, and the museum of contemporary art in Los Angeles.

For this assignment, this discussion will focus on "monument" and untitled (to Leo at the 30th Anniversary), both among Flavians, many minimalist and visual pieces of art. However, before delving into Flavin's pieces of art, it imperative to consider the four types of investigative processes required to visualize architecture. The first type of investigation is the assessment of the physical features of pieces of art.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: Untitled (In honor of Leo on the 30th anniversery.

Figure 1: Untitled (In honor of Leo on the 30th anniversery.

In this context, as established in the section above, the majority of Flavin's work, especially the highlights of his career included art made of assortments and collages of fluorescent lights. Therefore, the objective information for such technique is the ambiance that they create when infused with pieces of architecture; for example, the monument is a set of lights laid by a dimly lit or dark room.

The objectivity of art involves one figuring ho to look at art. The main level in moving toward craftsmanship is figuring out how to look at it. In future dialogs, we will invest more energy in unadulterated perception than you most likely have done previously. For the most part, we will, in general, see craftsmanship as far as "loving" it first and "looking" at it later. From this point of view, the abstract (information dwelling in the feelings and musings of the watcher) overwhelms our perspective. In expressions of the human experience, it is particularly critical to start to build up an educated or objective conclusion instead of only an instinctual response (Carrier, 1989).

An objective view is one that spotlights on the article's physical qualities as the primary wellspring of data. This doesn't imply that you will expel or negate your abstract sentiments about work; in reality, you will find that the more educated you become, the more artwork will influence you genuinely and mentally. It means that you will learn elective approaches to move toward craftsmanship, ways that enable you to discover intimations to the significance and to see how artistry reflects and influences our lives.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2: Monument by Dan Flavin.

Consequently, the second mode of investigation consists of the analysis of the visual or formal structure. In this regard, most of the visual elements of Flavin's art incorporated the use of bright lights fused and highlighted by their dark backgrounds (Kosara, 2007mo). The majority of Flavin's assemblages are generally assortments of fluorescent lights. Another element of the art is the dim rooms or the dimly lit creations due to architectural design. For example, most of the art pieces were displayed in the corner of a room or corners of buildings. In the majority of the external pieces of art, it was more savory for one to observe them under the darkness of night.

Regarding this second interpretation of Flavin's art, one considers the artist's ideologies concerning his work. It is clear that Dan Flavin earnestly denied that his sculptural light establishments had any extraordinary, emblematic, or glorious measurement, expressing: "What will be will be and it ain't nothing else," and that his works are just bright light reacting to a particular engineering setting. Despite Flavin's emphasis on this, it is conceivable to see singular pieces as far as suggested accounts.

Potential relationship with the idea of light - from strict change to scholarly revelations - are overflowing in Flavin's work, regardless of whether the craftsman himself empowers such understandings. Flavin's light "suggestions," which he did not think about figures, are comprised of traditional, industrially accessible materials, much like the ready-mades by Marcel Duchamp that Flavin appreciated. Further, the materials Flavin utilized are short-lived, their constrained lifecycles anything besides immortal. Along these lines, the craftsman stressed the vaporous idea of his works, situating his specialty outside the domain of connoisseurship, where artistry objects are esteemed as much for their material characteristics concerning their reasonable importance.

The third mode of investigation of art involves finding evidence of the art's symbolism. In this regard, one could argue that Flavin's art was even unusual for his time. Nevertheless, one must appreciate the integration of art with architecture. It symbolized the channeling of light from the darkest corners of buildings and rooms, symbolizing something illuminating at the least.

The fourth involves a cultural context. In many ways, the life of Flavin influenced his artwork. The propensity to benefit pre-created mechanical materials and basic, geometric structures, together with the accentuation set on the physical space involved by the fine art and the watcher's connection with it, adjusts Flavin's work to that of other Minimalist craftsmen(Chave, 2000). His accentuation on light and its belongings, be that as it may, adjust him as unequivocally with Op craftsmanship, whose experts investigated varieties fit as a fiddle dependent on contrasts in light.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Flavin was a great artist whose unique style of art is reminiscent of a new type of contemporary art. The propensity to benefit pre-created mechanical materials and basic, geometric structures, together with the accentuation set on the physical space involved by the fine art and the watcher's connection with it, adjusts Flavin's work to that of other Minimalist artisans. His art will forever be remembered and appreciated since it was the first of its kind and ushered in a new type of art that is widely used to date. Moreover, his form of art evokes a lot of perception of architecture from an artistic perspective.

References

Alberro, A. (1997). The Turn of the Screw: Daniel Buren, Dan Flavin, and the Sixth Guggenheim International Exhibition. October, 80, 57-84.

Carrier, D. (1989). Erwin Panofsky, Leo Steinberg, David Carrier: The Problem of Objectivity in Art Historical Interpretation. The Journal of aesthetics and art criticism, 47(4), 333-347.

Chave, A. C. (2000). Minimalism and Biography. The Art Bulletin, 82(1), 149-163.

Kosara, R. (2007, July). Visualization criticism-the missing link between information visualization and art. In 2007 11th International Conference Information Visualization (IV'07) (pp. 631-636). IEEE.