Private View Review - Dan Flavin and Mario Merz - Untitled and 8-5-3 - Gagosian - London

I’m wild about Mario Merz's work. Oh yes I am. During last night’s private view at London’s Gagosian, I came face to face with his famed ‘8-5-3’ installation, which he created in 1985. The piece comprises of three of his signature igloos; the first, standing at 8-metres high in bundled up twigs, is somewhat organic – it’s inviting, earthy and even amicable. Sitting stoic beside the second 5-metre igloo, which is made of lethal looking sheets of glass, clamped together in a chaotic yet symmetrical manner, its frame encloses the third, and smallest, 3-metre igloo; a little like a VIP lounge space or more likely, a womb – a viable option given that ‘objet cashe-toi’ (‘hiding place’) is scattered across the work in jagged lights. Notably, this aforementioned pair is firmly linked by a trio neon tubes. These bars of light impale the duo, sealing them together in an almost painful manner. And it’s perfect. It’s superb. It’s simply sublime. It’s a work where nature meets man-made ascetics in absolute harmony. Maybe it’s the sharp, impeccably cut glass or the angles at which the neon bars pierce the smallest internal igloo. Perhaps it’s the sheer organic earthiness of the big igloo sitting beside the obvious artificial structure of the second – whatever the case, I love-love-love this work. It’s clever, poignant, it’s memorable; it’s everything it should be… And I’ll be honest here – installations are, in my experience, no small feat. They’re too easily fumbled, rumbled and screwed up to the point of no return. But Merz, with ‘8-5-3’ has surpassed the installation check point.

In the second space of the Gagosian, man of the month, Dan Flavin, does his neon thing with three works; all untitled, all neon and all positioned perfectly in opposing corners of the room. These works, which each comprise of two bars of light slotted between a walled corner, several feet above the floor, are minimalist gems. Ideally set out within the space, the entire area glows with a warm luminous haze. Simple and sophisticated, chic and clinical, they provide an ideal opposition to Merz’s work next door.

Photos by Wayne Chisnall