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Robert Irwin — Night Flight
Robert Irwin

Night Flight

2015

Night Flight invites the viewer into a perceptual field that resists easy resolution, operating at the precise threshold where light ceases to be a tool and becomes the subject itself. Created in 2015, this work belongs to Robert Irwin's sustained investigation into what he has long called the conditional, those qualities of vision that shift according to the observer's position, the ambient environment, and the passage of time. Measuring approximately 183 by 206 centimeters with a shallow depth of just over eleven centimeters, the piece extends well beyond its physical footprint, pulling surrounding space into its logic through shadow, reflection, and a chromatic presence that appears to breathe rather than simply exist. Irwin, whose practice spans more than six decades and whose influence on perceptual and Light and Space art remains foundational, brings to Night Flight a maturity of restraint that distinguishes it from more declarative modes of installation. The title suggests nocturnal transit, something glimpsed between states of wakefulness and drift, and the work honors that suggestion without literalizing it. Color does not decorate the surface here; it is the surface, modulated by the interplay of artificial illumination and reflective material in ways that change meaningfully depending on where one stands. For collectors, Night Flight represents an exceptional opportunity to acquire a major late work by one of the defining figures of post-war American art. Signed by the artist, the piece comes without a frame, a deliberate condition that underscores Irwin's longstanding resistance to pictorial convention. Currently presented by White Cube, the work carries institutional provenance commensurate with its significance and would anchor any serious holding of light-based or conceptually grounded contemporary art.

Medium
Light + Shadow + Reflection + Color
Overall
Signed
Yes
Location
White Cube, New York, NY

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About this work

Robert Irwin, Night Flight, 2015

Night Flight invites the viewer into a perceptual field that resists easy resolution, operating at the precise threshold where light ceases to be a tool and becomes the subject itself. Created in 2015, this work belongs to Robert Irwin's sustained investigation into what he has long called the conditional, those qualities of vision that shift according to the observer's position, the ambient environment, and the passage of time. Measuring approximately 183 by 206 centimeters with a shallow depth of just over eleven centimeters, the piece extends well beyond its physical footprint, pulling surrounding space into its logic through shadow, reflection, and a chromatic presence that appears to breathe rather than simply exist. Irwin, whose practice spans more than six decades and whose influence on perceptual and Light and Space art remains foundational, brings to Night Flight a maturity of restraint that distinguishes it from more declarative modes of installation. The title suggests nocturnal transit, something glimpsed between states of wakefulness and drift, and the work honors that suggestion without literalizing it. Color does not decorate the surface here; it is the surface, modulated by the interplay of artificial illumination and reflective material in ways that change meaningfully depending on where one stands. For collectors, Night Flight represents an exceptional opportunity to acquire a major late work by one of the defining figures of post-war American art. Signed by the artist, the piece comes without a frame, a deliberate condition that underscores Irwin's longstanding resistance to pictorial convention. Currently presented by White Cube, the work carries institutional provenance commensurate with its significance and would anchor any serious holding of light-based or conceptually grounded contemporary art.

Medium
Light + Shadow + Reflection + Color
Dimensions
overall: 182.9 x 206.4 x 11.4 cm
Year
2015
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
White Cube, London, United Kingdom

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