Exhibition Information Date:  August 6, 2009 - November 21, 2010 Place:  Friedman Gallery View all associated images View this exhibition in the Walker Calendar
		Image: Robert Irwin, untitled , 1971 synthetic fabric, wood, fluorescent lights, floodlights 96 x 564 in. Collection Walker Art Center Gift of the artist, 1971

Throughout his long career, Robert Irwin has pondered whether we ever have an absolutely pure or direct moment in front of a work of art. This installation, last on view 20 years ago, represents his effort to foster such an experience. Part of a series of powerful—and temporary—works the artist created using oblique planes of translucent scrim fabric, it was commissioned by the Walker in 1971 as part of Works for New Spaces, the inaugural exhibition of its Edward Larrabee Barnes-designed building. The untitled piece, which Irwin’s preparatory drawings and notes refer to as Slant/Light/Volume, was last on view 20 years ago; now, its installation in the Friedman Gallery provides an opportunity for a new generation to see this pivotal work.

Irwin’s transformative pieces in the 60s and 70s helped to define the aesthetics and conceptual issues of the West Coast Light and Space movement. Along with fellow artist James Turrell, he explored how phenomena are perceived and altered by consciousness, in effect orchestrating the act of perception. His seemingly simple architectural interventions are philosophically rich exercises in the physical, sensory and temporal experience of space.

Robert Irwin: Slant/Light/Volume is made possible by generous support from Babe Davis.

Robert Irwins Walker installation: Were you there in 71? http://blogs.walkerart.org/visualarts/2009/08/14/robert-irwins-walker-installation-were-you-there-in-71/ Walker blogs, Visual Arts: General

Installing Robert Irwin:Slant/Light/Volume http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkerart/sets/72157622598848326/ Photos of the exhibition being installed.

Robert Irwin: Slant/Light/Volume http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkerart/sets/72157622474287317/ Photos of the exhibition.