Dan Flavin (1933 – 1996) – untitled (for Fredericka and Ian) 3
An exhibition dedicated to the work of Dan Flavin (1933-1996), one of the leading exponents of minimalism and a pioneer of installation art, runs at Ordovas at Saville Row in London until April 25. The chronological show begins with an installation entitled four red horizontals (to Sonia). It was conceived in 1963, the pivotal year when Flavin first started using his signature fluorescent light bulbs, turning an everyday object into a work of art and exploring the ways in which light sculpts space. At Ordovas there is work from the 1960’s, ’70’s and ’80’s.
Golds – an exhibition exploring one of the most symbolic colours in the history of art, and how it has been used and represented in the work of significant artists from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries – opens tomorrow at Ordovas on Savile Row in London. The exhibition, featuring 11 works of art, represents a diverse group of artists including Carl Andre, Lucio Fontana, Donald Judd, Giuseppe Penone, Edmund de Waal and Andy Warhol. These modern works are shown alongside a masterpiece of medieval art: an exceptional champlevé enamel chasse from Limoges, France, created circa 1200 and believed to have housed and protected one of the most precious relics: a piece of the True Cross. This is the latest in a series of exhibitions held over recent years exploring the use of a single colour; previous editions were dedicated to white in 2017 and blue in 2020. It runs until December 13.
Limoges, France, circa 1200 – A champlevé enamel chasse showing the Crucifixion Photo courtesy Sam Fogg, London.
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) – Le toit bleu or Ferme au Pouldu Painted in 1890. Courtesy Ordovas
Gauguin and the Contemporary Landscape, an exhibition of five paintings exploring the enduring influence and appeal of nature on artists working over a century apart, opens today at Ordovas at Savile Row in London. At the centre of the exhibition is a rural scene by Paul Gauguin(1848-1903) painted in Brittany in 1890. It is shown alongside works by two contemporary artists who have also redefined landscape painting: Peter Doig (b. 1959) and Mamma Andersson (b. 1962). These include a monumental and rarely seen cabin painting considered to be one of Doig’s finest works of the 1990s which is shown in public for the first time in 25 years, and a large-scale composition painted earlier this year by Andersson.
Le toit bleu or Ferme au Pouldu was painted by Paul Gauguin in 1890 after he had escaped the booming urban culture of Paris to explore relatively remote, seemingly uncivilised areas of Brittany, becoming the most prominent painter of the Pont-Aven school. Camp Forestia (Care Taker) was painted just over a century later in 1996 by Peter Doig, one of the most important British painters living today, and an artist who has redefined the genre of landscaping painting. Measuring almost 2 x 3 metres, it is the largest in a series of works by the artist depicting the clubhouse of a nudist colony, Camp Forestia, located on Tiger Mountain in Washington State.
Stubbornly Waiting is a new composition painted earlier this year by Swedish artist Mamma Andersson, one of the foremost landscape painters working today. Also measuring almost 3 x 2 metres, this painting exemplifies the artist’s approach to landscape painting which recalls late nineteenth-century romanticism while also embracing a contemporary interest in layered, psychological compositions. These scenes draw inspiration from a wide range of archival photographic source materials, filmic imagery, theatre sets, and period interiors, as well as the sparse topography of northern Sweden, where she grew up. The London exhibition runs until April 26.
