Robert Irwin

The issue is about context, not objects: how we perceive objects in context.” —Robert Irwin

For more than six decades, Robert Irwin has explored perception as fundamental to art. Irwin was the first to make objects and installations that were purely designed to manipulate the light in front of or around the viewer. (via Pacegallery)

For more than six decades, Robert Irwin (b. 1928, Long Beach, California) has explored perception as the fundamental issue of art. Irwin, who began his career as a painter in the 1950s and became the pioneer of the L.A.-based “Light and Space” movement in the 1960s, has, through a continual breaking down of the frame, come to regard the role of art as “conditional,” or something that works in and responds to the specific surrounding world of experience. Irwin has conceived fifty-five site-conditional projects since 1975, ranging from the architectural and grounds design of Dia: Beacon Center for the Arts (completed in 2003) to the lush Central Gardens for the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California (completed in 2005). Robert Irwin became the first artist to receive the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur “Genius” Award in 1984.  Robert Irwin has been with the Gallery since 1966.