Gallery to host reception for renowned modern master

Quint Contemporary Art will welcome an exhibition of new works by San Diego-based artist Robert Irwin with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. March 19 at the gallery, 7739 Drury Lane in La Jolla.

This will be Irwin’s first exhibition on the West Coast since his “One Wall Removed” project at the Malinda Wyatt Gallery in Venice, Calif. (1980). The exhibition, “Works in Progress,” will change every two weeks during the run of the exhibit, from March 19 to May 1.

Over the last 50 years, Irwin as an artist, theoretician and teacher has played a pivotal role in the development of the unique tenets of modern art. Through his own personal Husserlian reduction, his work became the precursor for art outside the frame and object. This includes installation art; light and space art; art in public spaces; site specific art; and what he now terms “conditional art,” which draws the focus to the relationship and role of the sentient being vis-à-vis the cognitive self.

Irwin has produced some extraordinary projects, including “Fractured Light — Partial Scrim — Eye Level,” Museum of Modern Art, New York (1970-71); “Black Line Room Division + Extended Forms,” Whitney Museum, New York (1977); “48 Shadow Planes,” Old Post Office, Washington, D.C. (1983); “9 Spaces, 9 Trees,” Seattle (1983); “Ascending,” Musee d’Art Moderne de Ville, Paris (1994); “Arts Enrichment Master Plan: Miami International Airport,” Miami (1988); “Double Diamond,” Musee d’Art Contemporain, Lyon, France (1997-98); “1o 2o 3o 4o,” Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (1997); “The Central Garden,” J Paul Getty, Los Angeles (1998); “Architecture and Grounds,” Dia Beacon, New York (2003); and “Primaries and Secondaries,” Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2007-08).

Irwin has received the Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (1976), The Mac-Arthur Fellowship (1984) and The Thomas Jefferson Medal for Architecture (2009). He also has been awarded a number of honorary professorships and doctorates. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Currently, Irwin is working on the new federal courthouse in San Diego and projects for the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas, and a primordial palm garden for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

• Where: Quint Contemporary Art, 7739 Drury Lane, La Jolla; alley entrance only between Kline and Silverado streets
• When: 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays
• Contact: (858) 454-3409, www.quintgallery.com