Qatar Museums will open on Oct. 26 the largest museum exhibition outside of the US and the first in-depth presentation worldwide in nearly two decades of the work of the closely linked American artists Dan Flavin (1933-1996) and Donald Judd (1928-1994).

HE Chairperson of Qatar Museums, Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, said, “We are grateful to Michael Govan and our partners at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for working with us to bring this landmark exhibition to Qatar, where we are introducing the works of two icons of contemporary art, Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, not just to Qatar but to the entire region.” “The lasting influence of these artists is not limited to the visual arts. Their work continues to be a touchstone in fields as diverse as architecture, design, and furniture.

It is especially fitting that this exhibition opens during Qatar Creates Week, when we celebrate all artistic disciplines and consider how art has the power to transcend boundaries.” Michael Govan said, “Dan Flavin
and Donald Judd are often described as the founders of American minimalism. They were as innovative as European painters Picasso and Braque in the early part of the twentieth century. In the 1960s in New York, Flavin and Judd imagined a new art made of common industrial materials ubiquitous in our modern culture. In the end, their artworks are anything but minimal. On the contrary, the works in this exhibition from all periods of the two artists careers demonstrate their mastery of color, form, materials, as well as their attention to their artworks relationship to their surrounding architecture.” Featuring 34 works by Flavin and 25 works by Judd, Dan Flavin Donald Judd: Doha focuses on the artists’ shared engagement with material, color, and form. Spanning the 1960s through the 1990s, the exhibition will highlight works from the collection of Qatar Museums, as well as important loans from other museums, private collections, the Dan Flavin Estate, and the Judd Foundation.

The exhibition is part of Qatar Crea
tes, the year-round national cultural movement that curates, promotes, and celebrates the diversity of cultural activities in Qatar and connects residents and global audiences with Qatars creative industries.

The exhibition is a legacy project of the 2021 Year of Culture between Qatar and the US, a yearlong cultural exchange designed to deepen the understanding between two nations and their people. The Year of Culture Qatar-US also featured exhibitions of the works of Jeff Koons and Virgil Abloh in Doha and an exhibition of extraordinary textiles and portraits on loan from the Museum of Islamic Art at Washington, DCs Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art.

Qatar Museums and LACMA share a history of collaboration and professional exchanges going back to 2012 with the presentation of the LACMA’s exhibition, Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts at the Museum of Islamic Art. In 2018, the partnership was later expanded through a joint collaboration with the Yuz Museum in Shanghai.

Sou
rce: Qatar News Agency