All That Jazz 2011

Robert Irwin made this piece, called All That Jazz, with fluorescent lights. I can see him up on a ladder arranging each of those tubes. It must’ve been an intuitive process, shifting them around, stepping back, and squinting. I love how the red just pops. It feels both retro and futuristic, doesn't it? I wonder if Irwin was thinking about music when he made this, jazz specifically? Maybe he was trying to capture the feeling of improvisation and rhythm in a visual form? The cool white lights interspersed with the warmth of the reds create a kind of visual syncopation. Irwin’s work is all about perception and how we experience space. Artists are always talking to each other across time. Like with Agnes Martin’s grids, here, Irwin’s simple arrangements invite us to slow down and really see. It’s like he’s asking, what does it mean to see, and how can art make us more aware of our own seeing?