Robert Irwin: An Interview

Robert Irwin (b. 1928, Long Beach, California)  followed in the Abstract Expressionist tradition until he shifted his focus onto installation projects that play upon site-specific uses of light. Since the 1980s, he has created large-scale public space designs that use natural light, plants, and garden architecture. His monumental garden at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, opened in 1997, ranks as perhaps his most famous public project. Irwin has conceived fifty-five site-conditional projects since 1975, ranging from the architectural and grounds design of Dia: Beacon Center for the Arts (completed in 2003) to the lush Central Gardens for the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California (completed in 2005). Robert Irwin became the first artist to receive the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur “Genius” Award in 1984.  Robert Irwin has been with the Gallery since 1966.

In this interview, Irwin discusses his work as a painter and uses of light in an art historical context. "In figurative art, the mark has the greatest amount of content, the highest level of content," he notes. 

A historical interview originally recorded in 1976 and re-edited in 2003.