Robert Irwin
American, 1928-2023
American, born in Ireland, 1848–1892
BiographyRobert Irwin was born in Long Beach, California, in 1928, and studied at the Otis Art Institute (1948-50) and the Chouiard Art Institute, Los Angeles (1952-54). Throughout the 1950s, Irwin painted in the Abstract Expressionist style only to reject it later for lacking "potency." In the early 1960s, Irwin, like other Minimalist sculptors, began to experiment with ways to make the work of art represent nothing other than itself. His desire to draw the viewer into the work of art led to a series of installations, beginning in 1968, that altered the viewer's perception of space primarily through lighting and nylon scrim sheets (for example, Scrim Veil - Black Rectangle - Natural Light, 1977; New York, Whitney Museum of American Art). Irwin's outdoor sculpture and installations (such as 9 Spaces, 9 Trees, 1980; Seattle, Washington) similarly draw attention to the viewer's perceptual experience of site and place. His site-specific work of the 1970s and ‘80s includes indoor works at the University Art Museum at Berkeley (1977), and the present work at Oberlin. In the mid 90s, Irwin was selected to create a major outdoor installation on the grounds of the J. Paul Getty Trust's Getty Center in Brentwood, California.