2 neon artworks - Spann Bridge Table and Smokestack glow next to a Calder litho
Art Furniture - Spann Bridge Table under lit with argon
The Breaking of The Seal - The Effluence of the Watery Flux and the Blooming of the Rose - 7th work in the series of Alchemy and the Transmutation of Rare Light
The Candlestand and the Emergence of the Effulgent Rays of the Sun - 10th work in the series of Alchemy and the Transmutation of Rare Light
The Distillation of Rare Light in The Alembic Supported by Planetary Interactions with the Phases of the Moon – 1st work in the series of Alchemy and the Transmutation of Rare Light
"Escape" neon sculpture from the series: Escapades of Rare Light
NEON & ARGON
"Neon is always bold, brash and 'in your face' as an artform it's irrepressible, that's why it fascinates me. It's like capturing a solar flare or the Northern Lights in a bottle"
- Eric Helin Hultquist
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Spann 1, (underlit with argon) is one of a series of bridge tables. The sculpture, Smokestack, is also lit with argon.
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As a small child I remember being fascinated with two things - fireflies and neon. Both glow but neon is brighter. Professor James White who taught me the art of neon sculpture, has often said, "when someone turns off neon, it's as if something beautiful had died. Those are words spoken by a true neon "junkie" of which I happen to be one.
SPANN 1
It isn’t at the beginning of a bridge, but rather in the center of the bridge . . .
. . . when you are halfway there
. . . when both ends recede into distance
. . . when both ends narrow in scope
and you are centered in space
. . . that the moment of crisis occurs.
A decision must be made whether to continue on or go back. At that moment, a jag in time (a zig-zag to the right or the left) seemingly occurs. The moment of decision arrives – to continue forward towards the original goal or change your mind and return to the beginning. Spann is about this decision in that moment of crisis rather than the journey across a bridge. Spann is the first of a series of sofa tables exhibiting bridge-like characteristics. Constructed of steel rod, with a table surface of black acrylic, and lit beneath by argon, Spann I is stunningly modern. The table top follows a zigzag. This motif constantly reappears in my work.
BREAKING OF THE SEAL
EFFLUENCE OF THE WATERY FLUX
AND BLOOMING OF THE ROSE
This neon sculpture: The Breaking of The Seal is the 7th work out of 10 in the series: Alchemy and the Transmutation of Rare Light.
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At this point in the alchemical operation, the interaction of a symbol “the seal” with the “light” has retroactively affected both. This interaction has broken “the seal” causing a “watery flux” to issue from it. The “watery flux” which is draining away is the source for the “blooming rose.” Just as the flux affects “the seal” from which it issues, “the seal” affects the flux with its latent image (reflected in the squared base). At this stage the "light" is taking on solid form – that of “the rose” – which is central to “this stage” of “the work.”
THE CANDLESTAND
EMERGENCE OF THE EFFULGENT
RAYS OF THE SUN
Another neon sculpture: The Candle Stand is the 10th and final work in the series: Alchemy and the Transmutation of Rare Light.
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With the “Candle Stand” we reach the end of the alchemical operation. The intense red-orange glow of neon appears at this stage as a pale washed-out argon candle. The color has been drained from the light into the color and brilliance of the multi-colored rays of a “sun” that surrounds a glass candle that is burning out. At this stage, the rays of color have become more “real” than the light which has been drawn into them. Thus the process that began with rusted and distressed metal forms that yielded intense light has reversed. The forms have drawn life and color from the light which has waned to a pale, ghostly glow.
THE DISTILLATION OF RARE LIGHT
WITH THE ALEMBIC SUPPORTED
BY PLANETARY INTERACTIONS
WITH PHASES OF THE MOON
The Alembic is the first work in the series: Alchemy and the Transmutation of Rare Light.
An alembic is an early scientific apparatus used in alchemy to transmute base elements into gold. In this particular work, the vessel is seen floating on and within the surface of a watery essence supported by the interactions of the planets. The body of the vessel itself is formed by the turnings of the moon through its various phases. Secretly, a sun supports the work and affects the beginning transformation with its rays. The alembic normally produces a refined distillate but in this case, what emerges from the “stack” is an effulgent “vapor” of neon light. Neon, by its very nature, would seem to have alchemical properties and in this sculpture is presented as the resultant action of the process.
ESCAPE
Escape is a sculpture from the series Neon and the Escapades of Rare Light. This series was intended to show the capricious and whimsical nature of light produced by the noble gasses: argon and neon which I refer to as "rare light." In this piece, the light which was trapped in the box is disintegrating the box which is no longer able to contain it. On one level, the relationship between light and any physical object is seen in this piece. On a subtler level, the light is seen as having an effect on the box which is at once destructive and transformative. The box, having "trapped" the light, is disintegrating and deconstructing as it melts away under the influence of the light. At the same time, as the light escapes, the material of the box is being drawn towards it and follows behind it (like a plant growing in the direction of light).