Robert Irwin (1928–2023) was one of the most eminent and influential post-war American artists, who, over the course of six decades, developed and refined what he terms “conditional” or “site-conditioned” art. His practice, which is often associated with the California-based Light and Space movement, encompassed painting and sculpture, installations, landscape projects, and interventions in public space. His actual medium was the viewer’s perception itself. The artist’s works dissolve conventional modes of reception to enable new forms of individual experience and an awareness of the aesthetic potential of our everyday surroundings.
Robert Irwin, Untitled, 1967–68
Norton Simon Museum, Museum Purchase, Fellows Acquisition Fund
© Robert Irwin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Norton Simon Museum, Museum Purchase, Fellows Acquisition Fund
© Robert Irwin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Plugged In: Art and Electric Light
Group Exhibition
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
Through February 17, 2025
Electric light emerged as an artistic medium in the mid-20th century, as artists engaged with new technology, mass media and industrial materials. This exhibition illuminates these themes through 11 works produced between 1964 and 1970, all drawn from the Museum’s collections. These inherently interdisciplinary objects were forged through artistic and scientific innovation. Plugged In considers art’s power to unlock the imaginative potential of essential and ubiquitous electric light.
Link
