Californian artist Robert Irwin was born in 1928. His first works were minimalist paintings made up of simple horizontal lines, but he soon began to feel limited by this approach. Dissatisfied with working on a flat surface, he moved into the third dimension, and created minimalist spaces. These rarely have anything to do with the architecture of the buildings in which they are inserted, and consist of space, light, sound, time and emptiness. His works create situations in which our senses are activated in a pure, absolute and primary way. As we stand in front of them, we are forced to focus on looking and listening. One of his most important works is a totally dark space with no sound where the visitor perceives an amplified heartbeat and breath –somewhere between the physical and spiritual. Like many minimal artists, Irwin often uses neon tubes, which allow him to control the intensity of light and create a self-sufficient perceptive system.
Californian artist Robert Irwin was born in 1928. His first works were minimalist paintings made up of simple horizontal lines, but he soon began to feel limited by this approach. Dissatisfied with working on a flat surface, he moved into the third dimension, and created minimalist spaces. These rarely have anything to do with the architecture of the buildings in which they are inserted, and consist of space, light, sound, time and emptiness. His works create situations in which our senses are activated in a pure, absolute and primary way. As we stand in front of them, we are forced to focus on looking and listening. One of his most important works is a totally dark space with no sound where the visitor perceives an amplified heartbeat and breath –somewhere between the physical and spiritual. Like many minimal artists, Irwin often uses neon tubes, which allow him to control the intensity of light and create a self-sufficient perceptive system.