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Review: Flavin's strip light fantasticLondon Hayward shows retrospective of neon minimalist masterBy Barry Neild for CNN  Visitors get the green light at the Hayward Gallery Dan Flavin exhibition. MODERN MASTERSQUICKVOTELONDON, England (CNN) -- While minimalist art shows are usually the territory of stifled yawns and scratched heads, Dan Flavin's glow in the dark retrospective in London offers a more illuminating experience. Flavin, who died in 1996, worked with ordinary fluorescent tubes to create electrified sculptures that, while simplistic in appearance, shed light on a rather satisfying art experience. Possibly to avoid confusion between the artwork and normal fixtures, the Hayward Gallery The gallery's stark modernist concrete spaces offer a suitably uncomplicated backdrop to more than 60 displays. With oblique names such as: "Untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection)," Flavin's work gives little away to the casual observer, lending itself easily to jokes and criticism. One of Britain's leading art critics, the outspoken Brian Sewell, has dismissed Flavin's work as "tedious," while more casual observers might ponder on how they could make their own masterpieces after a quick trip to the hardware store. (They would actually struggle, since many of the tubes used by Flavin have been discontinued). This rather risible simplicity is highlighted by Flavin's apparent breakthrough work, "The Diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi)," an eight-foot long yellow fluorescent tube placed at a 45-degree angle to the gallery floor. His preparatory sketch for the piece are framed and displayed in the Hayward, and consist of a single diagonal line. Then there's the question of what happens when the fluorescent tubes expire and need replacing. Does that reduce the value of the piece? Does it mean that art gallery janitor then becomes a co-author of the artwork? But there is more to it than strip lights and switches. Flavin uses color and geometry to explore space -- the blank corners and corridors that often stand unnoticed. One work, a clutter of red tubes titled "Monument 4 for those who have been killed in ambush (to PK who reminded me about death)" offers commentary on the Vietnam war.  Flavin's work sheds new light on the minimalist movement. Another, resembling a giant spaceship from an early space invaders game, is actually a homage to Vladimir Tatlin, a Russian constructivist artist whose work proved a regular muse for Flavin. Other even more rudimentary pieces, which the artist referred to as icons, pay blank homage to the religious masterpieces of the Renaissance. As Flavin puts it: "My icons ... are dumb -- anonymous and inglorious. (They) do not raise up the blessed saviour in elaborate cathedrals, they are constructed concentrations celebrating barren rooms." And whether or not you appreciate the nuances of his colorful creations, there's no denying -- especially on a wet and gloomy winter afternoon in London -- Flavin's sculptures offer a beauty and cheer that is often absent from contemporary artworks. 
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has been stripped of all light sources other than Flavin's sculptures, which bathe visitors in calming beams of primary color.
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