Neon

Neon was first Discovered in 1898 by William Ramsay a British scientist. French chemist and engineer George Claud took this idea and created a process. Neon is a chemical element which is in gas form at room temperature. Testing and coating the tube for colours. In the 1910s this type of lighting started to spread.

I think it is similar to pop art and I do think the two work well together. I believe neon is more than a light. It is a movement. It is in art, signage and famous locations such as Times Square and the Las Vegas skyline. It has also moved into homes in the last 5ish years. When I first hear the word neon it reminds me of a dark street at night, lit with the glow of the neon light reflecting in the puddles on the ground.

Dan Flavin was said to be the grandfather of Neon Art, his interests lay in abstract expressionism. His approach was quite minimalistic. He was born in 1933 and studied priesthood then joined the United States Air Force. He then studied art and progressed to take drawing and painting classes. Moving to collages and then in 1961, started to incorporate electric lighting within sculpture. 1963 saw the fluorescent neon tubes and since then his sculptures have been more to do with the space that they sit in and have grown. In 1992 he took on the Guggenheim and the museum was filled with light as it curved round the open building.

Keith Sonnier is a video and light artist who is very invested in the process art* movement. He was born in Louisiana. Similar to Flavin he uses a lot of neon, he also uses a mix of metallic mediums to create figurative exhibitions, using sculpture more so than Flavin. He is inspired by the effect of his lighting much as the materials and lighting himself. This is what he says about his work; “The light is a trapped gas. A gaseous light has more extension, and it begins to make colour become volumetric.” He would create space with the light, using his home – Louisiana and nature both as his inspiration for his art works.

* Process art, to put it frank is not about the final product it is about the process. For example, some minimalist art works are a plain coloured canvas, I would consider this process art as the process of creating this canvas took a lot of time and printing to get this rather than the finished product which is not always appreciated.

It is sort of mesmerising and I think it is something that is going to get bigger in domestic locations. I really love neon art and installation, the colours are so bright and how they transform the space is amazing. I think long exposure photos remind me of neon lights as the lines of light in the picture look like tubes of neon. It is like a painting or a drawing but with light, that fascinates me. Also I know that they have been around longer than a century but they still look so futuristic and remind me of films like Tron and Blade Runner.