Having just marked his 87th birthday, American artist Robert Irwin has touched down in London for his latest solo exhibition at White Cube’s Bermondsey outpost. The show, entitled ‘2 x 2 x 2 x 2’, unites three different bodies of work, including fluorescent tubes, a diptych and a pair of transparent plastic columns.
A pivotal member of the Light and Space movement, which originated in the West Coast, Irwin molds light but not as you would expect it. Leading the exhibition, the artist presents a sequential series of coloured fluorescent lights, placed vertically along the wall. Measuring 7 x 8 feet each, they are cocooned in hued gels, the sparse offering of colour immediately drawing the eye in.
Nearby, a new diptych – Black Painting (2015) – has notes of Josef Albers and Barnett Newman, but reads more like a tribute to Kazimir Malevich’s 1913 piece, Black Square. Reflective lashings of urethane paint and lacquer on honeycomb aluminium both mirror the viewer while drawing them into a sinister abyss - there’s a curiousness to this contradiction.
White Cube’s 9 x 9 x 9 gallery, meanwhile, holds court to a ghostly duet of crystal-clear acrylic columns. Although supposedly conceived as early as 1969, the works look hyper-futuristic in the pristine white space. Irwin has described his columns as perching sitting ‘on a delicate edge’, adding: ‘You don’t think about whether it’s art or not art. It’s just about what you’re seeing or not seeing.’
Irwin’s immaculately conceived works offer a perfect foil to Cerith Wyn Evans’ frenetic neon designs in the adjacent South Galleries. These two wildly differing shows form a fascinating symbiosis that brings light into sharp relief.
The show, entitled ‘2 x 2 x 2 x 2’, unites three different bodies of work, including fluorescent tubes (pictured), a diptych and a pair of transparent plastic columns. © The artist and White Cube. Photography: Ben Westoby
A new diptych – Black Painting (2015) – reads like an homage to Kazimir Malevich’s 1913 work, Black Square. Reflective lashings of urethane paint and lacquer on honeycomb aluminium both mirror the viewer while drawing them into a void. © The artist and White Cube. Photography: Ben Westoby
White Cube’s 9 x 9 x 9 gallery, meanwhile, holds court to a ghostly duet of crystal-clear acrylic columns. © The artist and White Cube. Photography: Ben Westoby
Installation view of '2 x 2 x 2 x 2'. © The artist and White Cube. Photography: Ben Westoby
INFORMATION
‘2 x 2 x 2 x 2’ runs until 15 November 2015
ADDRESS
White Cube Bermondsey
North Galleries
144-152 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3TQ
-
Colourful card game wins Design Museum’s Design Ventura competitionAnnual design competition Design Ventura was won by students from The Piggott School, who created a fun Eye Spy-inspired card game
-
Tour a Chilean pavilion perched on the coast: a sanctuary for sleep and star-gazingAlgarrobo-based architecture studio Whale! has designed a Chilean pavilion for rest and relaxation, overlooking a nature reserve on the Pacific coast
-
Step into Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron's dreamy photographs in London'Portraits to Dream In' is currently on show at London's National Portrait Gallery
-
White Cube at Arley Hall: contemporary sculpture meets the English country house gardenWhite Cube’s first outdoor sculpture exhibition puts the work of 12 modern and contemporary artists, including Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley and Danh Vo, on view in the grounds of Cheshire’s Arley Hall
-
Wang Gongxin at White Cube: hidden cameras, eerie minimalism and grey matterWang Gongxin’s show at White Cube Mason’s Yard explores cultural polarities and in-between states through 13 captivating new multimedia works
-
Meet emerging artists from Oppo Renovators 2021 ProjectTechnology innovator Oppo announces the winners of its Renovators 2021 emerging artists project and says, ‘Everyone can be, and is, an artist’
-
Theaster Gates: London, urban reform and exemplars of Black excellenceThe American artist and urban planner returns to London for a cultural takeover on a grand scale, and – as one of five visionaries invited to nominate creative leaders of the future for ‘5x5’, Wallpaper’s 25th anniversary project – picks five exemplars of Black excellence leading the way for social and creative change
-
Architectural futurism and urban ‘nudity’: Liu Wei at White CubeWhat is urban space without bodies? Chinese artist Liu Wei describes his eerie exploration of deserted cityscapes at White Cube Bermondsey
-
Cerith Wyn Evans puts the concept of mechanism through its paces in White Cube showThe Welsh artist’s latest exhibition is a captivating continuation of his exploration of transcendence, translation and temporality
-
Jeff Wall’s monumental photographs loom large at White CubeRenowned for his meticulously composed tableaux, the Canadian artist strikes out in a new direction at the London gallery
-
Sarah Morris cuts through the noise at White CubeIt’s a homecoming of sorts for the Kent-born, New York-based artist, who debuts new paintings and her first ever sculptural work at the gallery’s Bermondsey space
