Recollections On My Collaboration with Dan Flavin

I met Dan Flavin in 1982 when I was working as a lithographic printmaker in Sag Harbor, New York. I was collaborating on a portfolio being published by the Southampton Hospital, and it included, among others, Elaine DeKooning, Paul Davis, Esteban Vicente, Jane Freilicher,  and James Brooks. Dan was my favorite artist, on a human level, out of all the artists I have collaborated with through the years. He befriended me on our first meeting. Dan would take me to lunch at Bobby Van's in Southampton and he was always entertaining, and always picked up the tab. He had a sense of humor, albeit a dry one. I fondly remember once, when in horror I cracked one of his lithographic stones in half. Trying to ease my mind, he wise-cracked "Tell Dan (my boss at the print shop) that I sat on it". He immediately put me at ease, and I knew he had my back.

Dan was a large man, but he was a gentle, soft spoken, thoughtful man. I got a glimpse into his home life when he had to run home for something or other, and he brought me with him, proudly showing me around the beautiful house at the end of a dune road. I remember two things clearly: his toilet was rectangular-I didn't know such a thing existed, but leave it to Dan, who was so aware of shape and light to give so much thought to such a mundane object; and he had two dogs that he loved, they may have been golden retrievers, but I am not certain, that he kept in cages, but not one next to the other as is common, but stacked one over the other in the kitchen, like a canine condo!

Marc Louis Filippone