Artworks are the intellectual property of the individual artists and © (copyright 2019) by the individual artist, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.
Many of the works here were inspired by Keith Sonnier’s experience of growing up amid the rice and sugarcane fields of South Louisiana, and specifically, the way neon signage from the region’s music clubs and dance halls glowed through the humidity and dense fog. Capturing this visual sensation, one of the strongest memories of his childhood, was what initially drew him to work in neon. Representing some of Sonnier’s earliest experimentations with neon light, these works demonstrate the impact of Louisiana’s landscape and culture on his art practice.
Throughout his career, Sonnier’s extensive international travel has been a steady source of inspiration for his art. In the vibrant artistic and cultural traditions of Japan, India, Indonesia, and Haiti,Keith Sonnier saw strong connections to his own upbringing in South Louisiana, where historical links to Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, and Latin America have long shaped the region’s multifaceted cultural identity. Sonnier grew up surrounded by bamboo and sugarcane fields, but he was intrigued to find these materials deployed in new ways while traveling in India, where durable stalks of bamboo are used in scaffolding and acquire an architectural, urban presence.
FLUORESCENT ROOM
Viewed through apertures in the adjacent gallery walls, Sonnier’s immersive installation Fluorescent Room was originally exhibited in 1970, and then recreated specifically for NOMA in 2011, when the artist donated the work to the museum’s permanent collection. Fluorescent Room is filled with a variety of volumetric shapes cut out of foam blocks, which are then covered in raw, fluorescent-powdered pigments. Blacklights illuminate the dominant hues of green and orange, creating a mysterious and dreamlike environment. This work exemplifies Sonnier’s transformative approach to working with light and color across various media, and reflects his fascination with the sensory experience of Mardi Gras and India’s Holi festival, as well as other international cultural traditions. Like so much of the art of Keith Sonnier, Fluorescent Room dissolves the boundaries between audience and artwork, image and experience, and time and place.
(Source: all photos were taken by ARTS&FOOD® staff with the permission of the New Orleans Museum of Art.)
