All Photos By Gail

Beginning in the 1960s, Keith Sonnier (1941 – 2020) was one of the few artists experimenting with neon tubing as a sculptural medium. His pursuit was part of a larger interest in using everyday and industrial materials, foregoing the illusory space of painting in favor of a more literal and direct, artistic approach.

The hard geometry and brightly illuminated lines of Neon Wrapping Neon II (2003) — based on a 1969 drawing —  exhibit Sonnier’s fascination with the relationship between the viewer’s body and the work as a drawing in space, as well as the psychological impact of color and light.

Photographed in the Jewish Museum in Manhattan