LUCE estratti LUCE 326_Ceresoli_Keith Sonnier | Page 7

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Motordom (2004)
Neon, argon, aluminum housing
Permanent Exterior courtyard installation
for Caltrans District 7 Headquarters.
100 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012,
Commissioned by the State of California,
Department of General Services
Architect: Morphosis - Thom Mayne
p
Lichtweg (1990-1992)
1000 meter long neon corridor
Permanent neon installation in the corridor
with moving walkway at Munich
International Airport, Germany
Commissioned by the City of Munich
Architect: Busso von Busse
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LUCE 326 / LIGHT ART
in a balanced way abstract elements with
figurative evocations, the ephemeral with
the architecture, in a pop conceptual manner
and with refined formal inventions. Well known
are his environmental installations on
a monumental scale, such as the various
declinations of the series dedicated to the
golden section, Ba-O-Ba, for the exteriors
of the Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie
in Berlin, in 2002, and for the Lever House
in New York, in 2003. His Sel Series (1978-2003)
stand out from the others: derived from
an ancient abstract form of Chinese writing,
named Sel-calligraphy, indefinable
photo
Keith
of the ephemeral, Sonnier is the unmistakable
author of fluctuating shapes made with
coloured fluorescent tubes, in which he
captures nature’s dynamism through flowing
and sinuous lines, as Lucio Fontana did with
his Neon Structure, in 1951. Incorporated in the
transformer and electric cable, flowing through
the pink neon, the Energy that generates
sensations is the protagonist of Lit Red Circle
with Etched Glass (Lit Circle Series, 1968), the
sculpture placed on the ground and leaning
against the wall of the Milanese gallery.
Like a large magnifying glass capable of
amplifying the tension toward overcoming
the limits between materials and wall,
this sculpture attempts through the neon
to free the fluorescent tube gas, enhancing
the dialogue between the architecture
and the work, creating a connection with
space and viewers. In other wall sculptures too,
the colour draws multi-sensory circuits that
alter the perception of space, combining
technological elements with organic themes:
an unusual mix that implies imperfection,
since in nature nothing is squared or perfectly
circular, but everything is fluid, dynamic,
and in constant transformation.
From the Seventies on, his works of various
sizes are characterized by a sought after
scenographic tension, in which he blends
pseudo-figurative formal solutions evoke
mysterious creatures, fantastic shapes,
and captivating luminous alien presences,
introducing the relationship between form,
colour, and language, text and image,
architecture and spectator.
The tentacular Prairie (Gran Twister Series, 2012)
and the arches evoked by Floating grid series
(2017) are masterpieces; the Chandelier Series
of the 2000s exudes energy, configuring
electrical impulses and underground cabling
cosmologies. In his environmental installations,
Sonnier turns colour into a volume in which
light materializes luminous spaces inside
pre-existing architectures. In an interview,
the artist said: “I am attracted to neon because
this is, literally, a trapped gas, a real colour
that is not applied to a surface in the sense
of painting, but a colour that bathes or fills
the environment immediately close to him
in a natural way.” In the refined selection
of sculptures of the Milanese gallery, the recent
works are impressive: solid and pulsating
luminous sculptures are conceived as
experimental protocols solved in squiggles
of twisted lines, evoking the flight of insects
or the “aerial incursions” of flocks of migratory
birds with a strong vitalist and regenerating
power. His recognizable stylistic figure
of overlapping elliptic shapes with sinuous
tubes in colourful neon is convincing.
Projectors, a welded steel transformer, and
other materials create sculptures that are both
powerful and fragile, capable of generating
new and astonishing subjects. Born from
personal images, these are works for a dynamic
and changing gaze, in which light becomes
the object of thought on how to make art.