Robert Irwin (1928–2023)

Posted: 26 October 2023

Portrait of Robert Irwin, 2013. Photo © Philipp Scholz Rittermann.

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It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Robert Irwin (1928-2023).

Bob was a pioneer of the Light and Space movement and was one of the most pivotal figures in American art, with a career that spanned 70 years.

His site-responsive works posed questions rather than provided answers and encouraged the viewer to be made aware of the visual field around them.

He explained that in his art he was attempting to ‘open up things’ as ‘the pure subject of art is human perception’, a conditional activity determined by context.