Way back in August, I saw the Dan Flavin exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and I could’ve told you about it back then but it’s much more fun to give you the heads up now, with just ten days to go before it closes. That way you can experience the show the same way I tend to, rushing in just under the wire.
Friends of mine saw this before I did and raved about it afterward. I was all, yeah, sure, but…it’s fluorescent light. But it was way cool. Or hot. No, it was cool, literally.
Sure, the medium Flavin used is fluorescent light bulbs but it’s the way he arranges and combines the light to create his art. Some of the pieces use the standard white bulbs, others use different colors, which in turn create other colors bouncing off the walls, floors and ceilings.
I really enjoyed the exhibit (see more photos here) and before I’d left the museum I was racking my brain trying to figure out how I could incorporate some florescent art in my own home.
Someone I know who saw the show was less than impressed. “I could see more interesting light displays at a Home Depot,” she told me. If you’re leery about attending a hardware as art exhibit, admission to the MCA is free on Tuesday evenings from 5-8 pm–the same price as a trip to Home Depot.
2 Things @ Once 
This morning, on Chicago Public Radio’s “Hello Beautiful” they were talking about this exhibit, and specifically how it was received by the public when it was originally shown back in 1967. A woman who worked for the MCA back then said a common reaction from visitors was “Where’s the exhibit?” Not a negative comment on the art, but “Where is it? All I see are light bulbs.”
They’d end up refunding the admission price, which was then fifty cents. She said there were days when they’d refund more money than they’d take in.