The neon light works by American sculptor Bruce Nauman are probably among the most photographed installations at the 56th International Art Exhibition in Venice.
While Nauman also works with performance art and conceptualism, documenting his projects via black and white images or videos, a major part of his practice reflects his fascination with language.
The artist works indeed with puns, double meanings, popular expressions and idioms, forming words with fluorescent neon tubing, a material inspired by the neon beer signs on shop fronts in his San Francisco neighbourhood.
Among his best examples there are "Raw War" (1971), "Eat Death" (1972), "Life, Death, Love, Hate, Pleasure, Pain" (1983), "Human Nature/Life Death/Knows Doesn't Know" (1983), and "American Violence" (1981-1982), all on display inside the Arsenale.
Words illuminate in different alternating colours and the series prompts visitors to think about the materiality of neon tubing - which was conventionally used for industrial or commercial applications - as well as the materiality of language itself.
Neon - an ephemeral, time-bound medium used by Nauman throughout his career - is indeed still associated with advertising and signs rather than with art, ideas, or conceptual thoughts.
At times tacky and kitsch, neon lights often point towards restaurants, beers, cigarettes or even red-light districts, yet in Nauman's practice they are employed to spread hidden messages about politics, sex, violence, death, vices and virtues, reminding viewers that all these themes are intangible yet they exist.
Propped along the walls, the words are at times hard to distinguish as they cancel each other, blink and disappear while the viewer tries to read them.
Then they unexpectedly return and repeat themselves in phased sequences, proving that nothing is fixed and everything is fluid and upsetting the careful viewer with the message they carry.
The position of Nauman's punning neon word games (note: there are no pornographic figurative neon signs by Nauman at the Biennale blinking on and off Kama Sutra positions, or pieces strictly focusing on the body and identity), located right at the beginning of the main exhibition inside the Arsenale and their colourful shades, represent good photo opportunities for the visitors, and while they may not be too profound, being bold, bright and eye catching lists of words, they seem to be the sort of artworks favoured by the Instagram generation.
Nauman created his first neon piece, Window or Wall Sign, in 1967, hoping to achieve "an art that would kind of disappear", light is after all an elusive and instant medium that still manages to covey in his work an aggressive and direct message.
Is it possible to create the same elusive and instant effects of neon lights in a textile? Apparently yes, or at least this seems to be possible in a new series of fabrics designed by Vlisco.
Called "Neon Brilliance" (from the "Tell" Collection), this series is available in four different shades and it is directly inspired by two contrasting elements - neon tubing and Arabic ornamental motifs. The resulting design, a sort of electronic pattern, is therefore a fusion of ancient and modern elements.
There is actually another textile in the same collection with another intriguing name, "Infinite Journey", that, though inspired by hypnotic graphics rather than neon lights, perfectly reproduces in its endless swirls and mesmerising shades the same effects of the lights in amusement arcades or the colourful little mushroom-like bulbs on carousels and carnival games.
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