Keith Sonnier

"I think we were amazed that what we were making would even be bought. Our type of work was somehow counter-culture. We chose materials that were not "high art". We weren't working in bronze, or paint, even. We were using materials that weren't previously considered art materials. They were deliberately chosen to psychologically evoke certain kinds of feelings."

- Keith Sonnier

In Lit Circle Blue with Etched Glass (Lit Circles Series) (1968), a tube of curved blue neon parallels the bottom edge of a circular, etched piece of glass leaning against the wall. The glow of neon transforms the simple geometric shape, giving the space around it an ethereal quality, while emphasizing a relationship between the wall and floor, which reflects the light cast by the neon curve.

 

In the 1980s, after a period of having primarily focused on wall objects, Sonnier begins to incorporate aluminum in his work alongside neon and switches to freestanding form. Unlike the expressive informality of the early neon wall sculptures, these works are characterized by geometric order. Column I (1981) and Column II (1981) consist of upright sheets of corrugated aluminum onto which tubes of neon have been affixed. The aluminum relief projects and deflects the neon, creating glowing channels of light that compel the viewer to approach the object from all sides. Freestanding sculptures such as these would become the basis for several important series to follow, including Sonnier's critically acclaimed public commissions.

Born in 1941, Sonnier was raised in the rural, French-speaking, Cajun community of Mamou, Louisiana, 200 miles west of New Orleans. He received his B.A. from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, and his M.F.A. from Rutgers University. Sonnier's work has been the subject of numerous solo museum exhibitions, including: Keith Sonnier, Fluorescent Room at the Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1970); Projects: Keith Sonnier at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1971); Keith Sonnier: Porte Vue at the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1979); The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, which traveled to the Sakura Gallery in Nagoya, the Amano Gallery in Osaka and the Armory Gallery at Virginia Polytech Institute (1984); Keith Sonnier: Neon at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (1989); Keith Sonnier at Halle Süd, Geneva (1990), which traveled from Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin; Keith Sonnier. Werke/Works at the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany, which traveled to Kunsthalle Nurnberg, Germany, and the Kunstverein St. Gallen Kunstmuseum, Switzerland (1993 - 1994); and Keith Sonnier: Transformer - Selected Works 1968 - 2005 at The Arts Club of Chicago, IL (2005). Recently, a survey exhibition, Keith Sonnier: Light Works, was shown at the Musée d'Art Moderne et Art Contemporain in Nice (2015), and Keith Sonnier: Light Works, 1968-70 was on view at the Whitechapel Gallery, London (2016). In 2015, the Hall Art Foundation presented Keith Sonnier: Early Neon at its galleries in Reading, Vermont. In the past year, Keith Sonnier: Until Today was on view at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY, from where it travels to the New Orleans Museum of Art. Keith Sonnier: Dis-Play II is also currently on view at Dia's Dan Flavin Art Institute in New York through May 2019. Sonnier's architectural neon installations in public spaces have earned him wide acclaim in an international context. More than 20 important public commissions by the artist have been realized since 1981. Included among these commissions is Lichtweg (or Lightway) at the New International Airport, Munich (1989 - 1992), a permanent installation that spans the 1,000-meter walkway of moving sidewalks, linking terminals and orienting passengers in a pathway of light. Additional installations include: Kansas City International Airport (2006); Munich Re Headquarters, Munich (2002); Pfarrexpositur St. Franziskus, Roman Catholic Church, Steyr, Austria (2002); Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington D.C. (1998); Bureau of the Census, Bowie, Maryland (1997); Miami International Airport (1996); Caltrans Headquarters in Los Angeles (2004); and a temporary outdoor light installation, "Ba-O-Ba Berlin", at the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2002).  Sonnier lives and works in Bridgehampton, New York.