today’s inspirations_Keith Sonnier_Light works_MAMAC_Nice_France
“We need art in order to live ” [1]
As a post minimalist, performance, video and light artist, being part of the Process Art Movement, Keith Sonnier (born 1941, Mamou Louisiana) challenged preconceived notions of sculptures in the late 1960s. Frustrated by the standardized forms of incandescent light, he focused on experiencing with neon and fluorescent lights. His large-scale works specific to renowned landmarks, like the temporary neon installation, entitled Millennium, on four façades of Peter Zumthor’s Kunsthaus Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Austria gained him international recognition.
The linear quality of neon allowed Sonnier to draw in space with light and color while colored light interacted with the surrounding architecture.
Through the use of colored neon light Sonnier involves the viewer and the space directly in his series. By combining neon light with reflecting, shining, or transparent materials he reinforces its progressive character, which is no longer limited to visual stimuli.
His sculptures are more than just art works or art installations, they thus create space.
[1] “Nous avons besoin de l’art pour exister”. Keith, Sonnier. (2015): ‘Light works’ Keith Sonnier in MAMAC – Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain de Nice, 2015, page 27.
JLS 