Editing Dan Flavin (section)

===Early work===
Flavin's first works were drawings and paintings that reflected the influence of [[Abstract Expressionism]]. In 1959, he began to make assemblages and mixed media collages that included found objects from the streets, especially crushed cans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.paulacoopergallery.com/exhibitions/391|title = Paula Cooper Gallery}}</ref><ref name="nga.gov"/>

In the summer of 1961, while working as a guard at the [[American Museum of Natural History]] in New York, Flavin started to make sketches for sculptures that incorporated electric lights.<ref name="Guggenheim Museum Bio"/> The first works to incorporate electric light were his "Icons" series: eight colored shallow, boxlike square constructions made from various materials such as wood, Formica, or Masonite. Constructed by the artist and his then-wife Sonja,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hinant|first1=Cindy|last2=Guagnini|first2=Nicolas|title=FLAV|date=2010|publisher=Cin & Nic}}</ref> the ''Icons'' had fluorescent tubes with incandescent and fluorescent bulbs attached to their sides, and sometimes beveled edges. One of these icons was dedicated to Flavin's twin brother David, who died of [[polio]] in 1962.<ref>[http://www.diacenter.org/ltproj/flavbrid/essay.html Tiffany Bell, diacenter.org] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807211446/http://www.diacenter.org/ltproj/flavbrid/essay.html |date=August 7, 2007 }} accessed August 25, 2007</ref>