Exhibition Overview
Even as neon has all but been replaced by digital media such as LED, artists continue to find this analog art form an attractive method by which to explore the intersection of text and image. New Constellations: Contemporary Neon Art features the work of seven artists—including three newly commissioned works—that use the medium of neon to translate thoughts, feelings, and visual research into physical form. In recognizing that neon is a commercial language, the artists in this exhibition help prompt certain questions about its use in contemporary art, including: what are the poetic capabilities of neon? If artists are using neon, are they still selling something, even if it’s an idea? And if neon signs are usually declarative and demarcating, how can contemporary versions not just reveal but also blur accepted truths, identities, and realities?
This exhibition takes place in public facing windows along a six block corridor of Bolton Street, from the 1800 to 1300 block, in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore. All works in the exhibition will be visible each evening from 5-9 p.m. in their respective windows. This project format aligns with Cardinal’s in interrogating ideas about exhibition formats and the ways that art shapes space.Viewers are encouraged to take a walk along the six-block corridor of Bolton Street, as long as they feel safe and healthy, in order to view this exhibition.
Please join us for a public, socially-distanced opening reception evening October 3, 5-9 p.m. to celebrate the works that have already been installed.
Laure Drogoul
1427 Bolton Street and 421 N. Howard St.
How Clean is Clean?, 2019
This neon work is but one of many visual components from Laure Drogoul’s evolving, traveling project Dirty Clean Cleaners, an immersive installation and surreal dry cleaner shop created out of low density polyethylene (the clear plastic used to package “clean” garments). The work reflects upon the ubiquitous cleaners that dot our urban landscape, emphasizing growing environmental problems tied to the use of LDPE plastic #4 and perchloroethylene, a known toxin, in the cleaning of wearables. Her works asks us, in part, what kind of risks we are willing to accept and what choices we feel we have when interacting with our modern world.
Akea Brionne Brown
1407 Bolton Street
Still Separate, Still Unequal, 2019
Akea Brionne Brown states that her work lies “somewhere between photography and critical theory,” so it is not surprising that this piece was originally included in her Sondheim Artscape Prize-winning exhibition alongside photographic material. The piece utilizes the commercial connotations of neon to project a public service announcement, yet it still seems to retain a personal voice, signaling that inequality in our society is felt on a singular, individual level as well.
Joseph Young
1535 Park Avenue
In Respite of a Sugary Light, 2020 (installation photo coming soon)
As a microfiction writer (tiny stories of 50 words or less), Young offers viewers scenarios that balance context with enough space to invite further interpretation. The addition of visual imagery, in this case the glassware for a martini or Manhattan, provides another element with which the reader/viewer can imagine themselves into the story. The words that fill the Manhattan glass like jiggers of whisky and vermouth are personal: some specific “they” is engaged in the intimate act of sleep, perhaps after a night of drink. This push and pull of the commercial against the intimate adds another level of tension to the story.
Aliana Grace Bailey
a beautiful, resilient people., 2020
1612 Bolton Street
Bailey uses any medium necessary in order to “explore and manifest awareness of self and the world around her.” Her background in graphic informs a great deal of her text-based work and here is evident in the use of multiple fonts within the same piece. The two fonts remind viewers that any group of people is not monolithic but rather diverse and complex, and the intentional use of punctuation at the end of the piece presents the text as a declaration. In a moment when marginalized communities, particularly Black Americans, are too often denigrated for seeking equality, this piece helps promote what the artist describes as “positivity, self-worth, and the overall well-being of individuals and communities.”
Mike Dias
Untitled neon: Nikki, 2014 (left) at 1535 Park Avenue
Untitled neon: Mandy, 2014 (right) at 1307 Bolton Street
Dias’s Love Always series began when he noticed the recurring phrase while perusing old yearbooks and love notes. Looking at the same words in different styles of handwriting caused the artist to think more about the nature of authenticity, authorship, and the ownership of a cultural trend or cliché. He has collected and archived as many instances of the phrase as he could find and faithfully translated the two-dimensional writings into three-dimensional sculptures. While the source material is highly personal, the artist hopes that the use of a more universal medium such as neon allows for a much broader range of personal associations.
N’Deye Diakhate
1822 Bolton Street
Space & Time, 2020
Diakhate has recently been exploring the concepts of space, time, and spacetime. With this work she marries her conceptual interests with the materiality of neon, creating a time-based piece where the words blink on and off and occupy several adjoining windows. Space and Time have become metaphors for boundaries in the artist’s personal life but also prompt questions for the viewer about what kind of time and space are required to pursue one’s passions, as well as who is afforded those seeming luxuries in our current society.
Programming
In conjunction with the exhibition, we’ll be holding several artist talks. Dates and links coming soon!
Catalog
We will be releasing a digital catalog with installation views of each work, artist statements, and a curatorial essay after the opening reception. Stay tuned!
our Partners
In order to bring this project to fruition, we have relied on the generosity of neighbors, businesses, and generous sponsors.
First and foremost, this exhibition would not be possible without the financial backing of the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation. Since 1991, the Deutsch Foundation has been investing in the arts and creative economy of Baltimore.
We are honored to have Memorial Episcopal Church as one of the sites for this project. Memorial is a justice-focused, Jesus-centered Community in the heart of Baltimore. Memorial is a diverse and inclusive home for all those seeking a deeper relationship with God.
A huge thanks is due to Pigment Sauvage, a gallery and artist-residency that serves as another site for this project. The center strives to provide an approachable and intersectional platform for international, local and regional artists. PS encourages collaborative projects and helps to present the work of artists engaged in their community.
Park Avenue Pharmacy has graciously given us their windows to use for this project as well. The Pharmacy is well-regarded in the Bolton Hill neighborhood as a friendly place to fill prescriptions, find a nice bottle of wine, or run into friends and neighbors.
We commissioned three new works for this exhibition which were all fabricated at Signifier Signs in Detroit, MI. Signifier has a background in both fine art and sign manufacturing and collaborates with clients to build one-of-a-kind works with a high attention to detail.
Affordable Signs and Neon in Frederick, MD repaired a few works for this exhibition and approached our project with passion and incredible, personal service.