NEONS
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster began making neon works in 1999. They usually bear references to a prior event: a performance, an exhibition or a film produced by the artist. A fleeting moment of experience is one of the central themes in Gonzalez-Foerster’ s work and it remains the main motive of her neon pieces.
Her neons play with displacement of meanings and cultural connotations while the form of the glowing neon signage creates strong a visual impression. Alongside the literal meaning of the particular word that is captured in the neon, various other contextual readings come into play. The language of the neon sign has an important role in activating the viewer’ s imagination. Placed in exhibition settings, these signs allude to both imaginary and real journeys and to the fusion and exchange of different cultural contexts. Neon’ s common associations with advertising, popular culture and the urban environment also translate into Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’ s work. In her neons, a displaced sign or a word that usually appears as an announcement in a storefront window can spark subjective readings and interpretations.
The shining neon sign is usually placed on an empty white wall, but with some works an installation element is involved, such as wallpaper or a wall painting backdrop.
Double Happiness, 1999 Neon tubes, transformer Chinese character for“ Happiness”, twice 43 x 50 cm( DGF213) Exhibition view, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. 1887 – 2058, Centre Pompidou, 2015
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