UNLV Libraries Collection on Claes Oldenburg's Flashlight Sculpture (MS-00970)

In 1972, James McDaniel, architect for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), was developing plans to construct a performing arts complex on UNLV's campus. McDaniel envisioned two performance halls connected by a plaza where a sculpture would be the focal point. In 1972, UNLV submitted a grant application to the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) to commission, execute, and install a sculpture for UNLV's performing arts complex. The university received a $45,000 grant from the NEA and in 1978 Brock Dixon, Dean of Administration, contacted Claes Oldenburg to commission the sculpture. The plan was approved in May 1979 to build Flashlight, a tower-like construction with lights directed up at the sky. However, Coojse van Bruggen, Oldenburg's collaborator and wife, felt that the plan for Flashlight was too mechanical and authoritarian. van Bruggen proposed a different approach to turn the structure upside down and use concealed fluorescent lamps to create a modest ring of hidden light to achieve an intimate effect. The alternate plan was accepted in January 1980 and Flashlight was installed in March 1981. Flashlight stands thirty-eight feet tall, weighs 74,000 pounds, and is located at the Performing Arts Center plaza between Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall and the Judy Bayley Theater.

Sources:

Brian Sodoma. "The Back Story: The Flashlight." UNLV News Center. Accessed September 20, 2019. https://www.unlv.edu/news/article/back-story-flashlight

Claes Oldenburg and Coojse van Bruggen. "Flashlight". Accessed September 20, 2019. http://oldenburgvanbruggen.com/largescaleprojects/flashlight.htm