Published by Ken Saunders Galler y 2041 West Carroll Avenue, Suite C-320 Chicago, IL 60612 w w w.kensaundersgaller y.com © 2020 Ken Saunders Galler y All Rights Reser ved Design by Amy Stieve Luksa Exhibition Photography by Ken Saunders
Published on the occasion of the exhibition
on neon Featuring work by:
JOHN E. BANNON SARAH BLOOD JACOB FISHMAN HELEN LEE ZOELLE NAGIB JASON PICKLEMAN MONIKA WULFERS September 12 - October 31, 2020
JOH N E . B AN N ON SAR AH B LOOD JACOB F I SH MAN H E LE N LE E ZOE LLE N AG I B JASON P I CK LE MAN M ON I K A WU LF E R S
Neon, chemical symbol Ne, atomic number 10; from the Greek for “new ” is a noble gas that was discovered in 1889 and later hailed for its beautiful red/orange glow when contained in a vacuum sealed glass tube and given a charge of electricity. Though the gas ultimately didn’t have the commercial impact its siblings Xenon and Kr ypton had there is no mistaking the impact neon has had on commercial signage, literally defining an era when the automobile was broadening Americans’ horizons and the highways and boulevards of America’s cities were filled with bright and often flashing come -ons. Today those original signs are vigorously collected for their great looks and nostalgic tug. Ar tists seeking to leverage this heritage, both timeless and time -warped have been using neon and other gas filled glass tubes to create a commentar y in that vast and fer tile ground where timelessness, kitsch, nostalgia, irony and literalness breed new strategies and new meanings. The seven ar tists featured in On Neon are par t of a wave of interest that is transforming the medium in exciting and unexpected ways. John E. Bannon is a Chicagoan who works in a variety of media often within the sphere of installations for public spaces. In addition to maintaining his studio practice Bannon has been an educator at the School of the Ar t Institute and a fabricator for other ar tists. Bannon’s recent body of work in neon explores various representations of a pair of lips while the ar tist’s current work is more mixed media and conceptual. The bright colors and pop imager y of his creations excites the viewer’s senses but for the ar tist it is the technical master y that is required to work with antique glass, subtly bent to his will, that excites Bannon most. Sarah Blood was raised and educated in the UK and is currently a Professor at Alfred University in New York. The ar tist creates objects that explore the visual dynamics of combining non-transparent elements with bright neon to produce works infused with concept or a layer of meaning. In works like the Luna Fossils the cast concrete contributes a weight and massiveness that accentuates the fragile, almost liquid neon that seems to flow through the pieces. In addition to her success creating large scale and public installations Sarah Blood is having a vital impact on the field of glass bending and neon work as the only full time tenured professor offering this specialized training anywhere in the countr y. Jacob Fishman is well known for ar tworks which incorporate pithy phrases associated with an existentialist (and humorous) world view. It Is What It Is installed in a galler y window was one of the most photographed ar tworks in Chicago in 2018, the image flooding social media as a jokey expression of forlorn apathy for contemporar y life. For this exhibition the ar tist has created a large -scale piece that pays homage to Rober t Frost and his poem Stopping By Woods on a Snow y Evening. Helen Lee examines the plasticity of language, jux taposing those fluid edges against the crisp pink edges of the neon. Lee’s heritage as a 2nd generation Asian American drives her practice to explore the transformational qualities of language – exemplified by the tensions that naturally occur between spoken word, the written word (writ large) and idiomatic expression, the use of which has under tones of emerging subcultures spawning new meanings often social and political in nature. “I dwell in the transformational moments in which: breath becomes sound; sound becomes spoken; the spoken word is written; and the written word is shaped back into dimensional form by my own breath”. Zoelle Nagib confronts the politicization of language and how it has infected two of our world’s gravest matters. Conflict Free Milk addresses hunger and malnutrition while No New Is Good News critiques the contemporar y media environment. Nagib’s political activism is power fully intimate and formed by her experiences as a new mother facing an uncer tain world.
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Jason Pickleman is interested in the intersection of commercial and fine ar t. His background as a graphic designer has led to the creation of work that addresses the desire to evoke meaning through strategies adopted by designers and marketers. The ar tist calls his neon creations “Signs” making clear that with in the simplicity of his forms a meaning is being impar ted. HappE from the ar tist’s recent explorations in colored glass jux taposes with Pickleman’s latest work in which a digital drawing is laid beneath a neon squiggle. The work remains steadfastly pop and conceptual. Monika Wulfer’s installations invite the viewer to par ticipate in the ar twork by energizing her spaces with the expanding energy of activated gas trapped in glass tubes. By acknowledging that their perceptions are playing tricks the viewer comes to realize and accept the limits of their perceptions. What seems at one glance a random installation of randomly sized rods of white light becomes on fur ther inspection a series of geometric forms created by rods of the same size. In that moment of understanding the viewer may be transpor ted to a transcendent space where the ar twork no longer confronts but rather comfor ts. There has been a resurgence in interest in neon. Ar tists are readily adopting the material to create ar tworks and whether they are bending the glass themselves or having exper ts do the studio work for them they are pushing the medium in many directions simultaneously in an effor t to make new objects that are steeped in histor y while authentically present in the moment. Ken Saunders, September 2020
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JOH N E . B AN N ON
X coated bromo purple glass and neon on board 25 x 46 x 5 inches 2020 10
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X #2 (off ) uncoated green glass and neon, unframed 12 x 19 x 2 inches 2020 12
X #2 (on) uncoated green glass and neon, unframed 12 x 19 x 2 inches 2020
E D U CATI ON 2002 1990
Master of Fine Ar ts in Studio, Depar tment of Ar t & Technology | School of the Ar t Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL Bachelor of Fine Ar ts, Painting | University of Illinois | Urbana-Champaign, IL
SE LE CTE D SOLO E XH I B I TI ON S 2011 1998
John E. Bannon | Dené Galler y | Geneva, Illinois Annual Neon and Light Exhibition: John E. Bannon | Zenith Galler y | Washington D.C.
SE LE CTE D GR OU P E XH I B I TI ON S 2020 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2012 2011 2010
On Neon | Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago, IL Original Voices | Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago, IL Ar t under the Tracks | Koehnline Ar t Museum | Des Plaines, IL 16th Annual Lakefront Sculpture Exhibition | Chicago Sculpture Exhibition | Chicago, IL B ending Brilliance | The B ergstrom-Mahler Museum | Neenah,WI Reflecting on Ar t from the Site Lines of Nature | Catwalk Institute | Catskill, NY Public Exhibition of Eye Candy | Wicker Park Fest | Chicago, IL Public Exhibition of Universe | Phases of the Moon A r t and Music Festival | Danville, IL Neon and Plasma Exhibition | Glass Ar t Conference | Chicago, IL Chicago Park Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition | Chicago Park District Promontor y Point | Chicago, IL 11th Annual Lakefront Sculpture Exhibition | Chicago Sculpture Exhibition | Chicago, IL Neon 2011 | Lion vs Gorilla | Chicago, IL Come Together | Hairpin Ar ts Center | Chicago, IL 9th Annual Lakefront Sculpture Exhibition | Chicago Sculpture Exhibition | Chicago, IL
SE LE CTE D H ON OR S & AWAR D S 2015-17 Catwalk Institute Ar tist Residency Scholarship | School of the Ar t Institute of Chicago | Catskill, NY 2013 Catwalk Institute Ar tist Residency Scholarship | School of the Ar t Institute of Chicago | Catskill, NY 2011 Individual Ar tist Suppor t Grant | Illinois Ar ts Council
SE LE CTE D P U B LI CATI ON S
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Visiting Ar tist Program Lecture Series. UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY. April 8, 2011. Rackl, Lori. “Publ ic Ar t On a Grand Scale” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. September 29, 2010. Batdor ff, Katy. “Finding The Right Angles” THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS. September 24, 2010. Odyssey 1999-2009 Celebrating Ten Years of Sculpture Exhibits (Purdue University Press, 2009). Briggs, Nicole. “John Bannon - Not Just Neon” UR CHICAGO MAGAZINE. Februar y, 2009.
John E. Bannon, ar tist por trait
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SAR AH B LOOD
I’M SO FUCKING TIRED (installation) gold sequins, neon, fan, gold streamers, mixed media variable dimensions 2017 19
LUNA FOSSIL VII flameworked glass, argon, cement, pigment 25 x 25 x 5 inches 2010 20
LUNA FOSSIL VIII flameworked glass, argon, cement, pigment 25 x 25 x 5 inches 2010 21
E D U CATI ON 2004 2002 1999 1994
University of Sunderland UK | Masters Degree, emphasis Glass Durham University UK | GLEAM Graduate Business Programme University of Sunderland UK | BA(hons) 3D Design, (Glass, Architectural Glass & Ceramics) De Montfor t University Leicester, UK | Cer tificate of Ar ts and Design Foundation
SE LE CTE D SOLO E XH I B I TI ON S 2019 2018 2016 2015
Sanctuar y Lumiere 10th Anniversar y celebration | City of Durham, UK À Tout la Gloire de la France La Bastille/Le Louvre/Concorde | Paris, France B etween Fur ther & Far ther Work|Release | Nor folk, VA. USA Luna Fossils LUXUS | Corning, NY. USA Sanctuar y Lumiere London | London UK
SE LE CTE D GR OU P E XH I B I TI ON S 2020 2019 2018
On Neon Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago IL Heat/Energy (GoGo Collective) | Kummelholmen, Sweden Ar t Through Windows Online exhibition (invitational) She B ends Loveland Museum | Denver CO USA Lightkeepers S12 Galler y | B ergen Nor way Continua The Or tlip Galler y | Houghton College, NY USA Kent State National Curated Glass Show, Kent State University Glass Exhibition | Kent, OH. USA Measures of Poetr y (GoGo Collective) | The B ogaarden Chapel | Bruges, B elgium NGC 21 National Glass Centre | Sunderland UK She B ends Var West Galler y | Milwaukee, WI, USA Showroom (GoGo Collective) Cité Internationale des Ar ts | Paris, France She B ends: Women in Neon SF The Midway | San Francisco, CA. USA Balance: Neon Biennial | The Stock Pavilion, UW Madison | Madison, WI. USA B ending Light: Neon Ar t 1965 to Now | Neuberger Museum | Purchase, NY. USA Light Charmer Houston | Center for Contemporar y Craft | Houston TX. USA
SE LE CTE D H ON OR S & AWAR D S 2019 2018 2015
Ivan B orowsky Glass Prize Nomination | USA International Funding Faculty Research Alfred University | NY. USA Ivan B orowsky Glass Prize Nomination | USA NEAR Chr ysler Museum and par tners, Inaugural Ar tist in Residence | Nor folk VA.
SE LE CTE D P U B LI CATI ON S 2020 2018 2017
She B ends Exhibition catalogue, Loveland Museum | CO USA NGC 21 Exhibition Catalogue, National Glass Centre | Sunderland UK Light In Hand: The Ar t of Plasma and Neon GASnews | Spring, NY USA New Glass Review 39 Corning Museum of Glass | USA Reflections From Another Place British Glass Biennale Catalogue | UK
Sarah Blood, ar tist por trait
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JACOB F I SH MAN
MY BRAIN neon 43 x 37 x 5 inches 2020 26
IT IS WHAT IT IS neon 46 x 64 x 5 inches 2018 28
WHOSE WOODS? neon 36 x 72 x 5 inches 2019 29
E D U CATI ON 1976 1973
Cer tificate for Vocational Instruction | Nor thern Illinois University B.S.E.E. | University of Arizona
SE LE CTE D E XH I B I TI ON S 2020 2016 2015 2008 2006 2004 2001 2000 1999 1998 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990
Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago, IL B ergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass | Neenah, WI Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago, IL Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago, IL Luminous Frontier | GAS Por tland Luminous Frontier | GAS Por tland Luminous Glass | Venusian Garderns Water Works Galler y | Salisbur y University of California | San Diego, CA Alfred B erkowitz Galler y Museum of Neon Ar t | Los Angeles, CA Glass Ar t Society | Seto, Japan B oston College of Fine Ar ts August House Galler y | Chicago, IL The Asylum | Chicago, IL University of Wisconsin Wood Street Galler y | Chicago, IL Penland Galler y, Nor th Carolina Miami Center of Contemporar y Ar t Michigan Galler y New East Side Neon Brierly Galler y | Winnetka, IL
SE LE CTE D P U B LI CATI ON S 2008 2005 2004 2003 2002
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The Proof is in the Process, Glass Ar t Society 6/08 Three Dimension in Neon, Glass Ar t Society 6/05 Got MSDS?, 2/04 Sign Business Allegro... non troppo, 2/03 Sign Business Improving Tube B ending pt2, 1/03 Sign Business Improving Tube B ending pt1, 11/02 Sign Business Neon Repair Techniques, 8/02 Sign Business
Jacob Fishman, ar tist por trait
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H E LE N LE E
INFINITIVE neon 64 x 64 x 4 inches 2017 33
OMG neon 46 x 16 x 4 inches 2018 36
REFLECT 3.7 (urban mountain) WONDER detail mixed media with glass neon 20 48 x 62 30 x 43 inches 2020 2019 37
E D U CATI ON 2006 2000
Master of Fine Ar ts in Glass | Rhode Island School of Design | Providence, RI Bachelor of Science in Ar t and Design, Concentration in Architectural Design| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA
SOLO E XH I B I TI ON S 2018 2015 2008 2006
Em Space Engram | Watrous Galler y | Madision, WI Kinesthetic Typography | Edna Carlsten Ar t Galler y | Stevens Point, WI B ecloud | Agnes Varis Ar t Center, UrbanGlass | Brooklyn, NY Vitreous Typography | Public Glass Galler y | San Francisco, CA Anechoic | The Providence Ar t Club | Providence, RI
SE LE CTE D GR OU P E XH I B I TI ON S 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2013 2012 2010
On Neon | Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago, IL Ar t Depar tment Quadrennial Faculty Exhibition | Chazen Museum of Ar t | Madison, WI Ossuaries, Frederick Layton Galler y | Milwaukee Institute of Ar t and Design | Milwaukee, WI Burke Prize 2019 | Museum of Ar t and Design | New York, NY New Glass Now | Corning Museum of Glass | Corning, NY Carried on B oth Sides: Encounter III | The Knockdown Center | Maspeth, NY 2018 Wisconsin Ar tists Biennial | Museum of Wisconsin Ar t | West B end, WI Materials Hard + Soft | Paterson-Appleton Ar ts Center | Denton,TX Mutual Intelligibility | Bullseye Galler y | Por tland, OR Carried on B oth Sides: Encounter I | Lesley Heller Workspace | New York, NY Momentum | River House Ar ts | Toledo, OH Tongue Tide | Flux Factor y | Queens, NY Emerge/Evolve 2016 | Traveling exhibition Material Mythologies | Minnesota Museum Of American Ar t | Saint Paul, MN Wisconsin Triennial 2016 | Madison Museum of Contemporar y Ar t | Madison, WI Shattered: Defying Expectations in Glass | Chandra Cerrito Galler y | Oakland,CA Character Profile | Root Division | San Francisco, CA Glass: A Juried Ar t Show 2012 | Minnetrista | Muncie, IN Keeping Time | Kala Galler y | Oakland, CA Bright Futures | Pratt Manhattan Galler y | New York, NY Breakable: Glass by Design | Heller Galler y + American Design Club | New York, NY
SE LE CTE D H ON OR S & AWAR D S 2019 2018 2016 2014 2013
Finalist, For ward Ar t Prize | Women’s Ar tist For ward Fund | Madison, WI Finalist, Burke Prize | Museum of Ar t and Design | New York, NY Outstanding Women of Color Award | University of Wisconsin-Madison | Madison, WI Gold Award, Bullseye Emerge | Bullseye Projects | Por tland, OR Edna Wiechers Ar ts in Wisconsin Award | University of Wisconsin–Madison | Madison, WI The Ir vin B orowsky Prize in Glass Ar t | University of the Ar ts Philadelphia | Philadelphia, PA
Helen Lee, ar tist por trait
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ZOE LLE N AG I B
NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS animated neon 24 x 24 x 4 inches 2020 40
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CONFLICT FREE MILK animated neon 35 x 19 x 5 inches 2020
E D U CATI ON 2008 2005 2001
Penland School of Crafts | Bakersville, NC Rochester Institute of Technology | Rochester, NY Nor thern Michigan University | Marquette, MI
E XH I B I TI ON S 2020 On Neon | Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago, IL 2011 Black and White, Gillock Galler y, Evanston IL. 2010 2nd Annual 12x12 Show, Blick Ar t Materials, Evanston IL Gillock Galler y Unititled Show, Vinic Wine, Evanston IL. Zora: How I Understand, Gillock Galler y, Evanston IL 2009 12x12: A Juried Ar t Show, Blick Ar t Materials, Evanston IL 2008-11 Blick Employee Galler y, Evanston IL 2007 Spring Studio Crawl, Penland NC. 2006 B ookopolis, B ookworks, Asheville NC. Penland Winter Rental Show, Penland NC 2004 Senior Fine Ar t Photography Exhibit, RIT. New Media Café, Moving Image Exhibition, RIT
P U B LI CATI ON S New American Painting, Gillock adver tisement. August 2010 Neon Engineers Notebook, by Fishman and Crook, Cover Ar t. 2003, 2007 B eads of Glass, by Cindy Jenkins, In-B ook Demonstration. 2003 Penland School of Crafts, Postcard. 2001
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Zoelle Nagib, ar tist por trait
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JASON P I CK LE MAN
KID PIX GLO #1 (Ed. 5) inkjet printed vinyl, neon 48 x 36 inches 2020 49
HappE neon sign 40 x 40 x 4 inches 2010
JUMBLE (ANKE) neon sign, mirrored acr ylic 12 x 12 x 12 inches 2019
E D U CATI ON 1987
BA, English Literature | B oston University | B oston, MA
SOLO E XH I B I TI ON S 2019 2012 2008
Light Reading | Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago, IL Sometimes Why | Ikram | Chicago, IL No B etter | Devening Projects + Editions | Chicago, IL
GR OU P E XH I B I TI ON S 2020 2018 2018 2015 2014 2011 2010 2009 2007 2003
On Neon | Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago, IL Local Comfor | LVL3 | Chicago, IL Great Ideas | Chicago Design Museum | Chicago, IL Wherever | LVL3 | Chicago, IL Simplicity | Starcom MediaVest Group | Chicago, IL CHGO DSGN | Chicago Cultural Center | Chicago, IL Write Now: Ar tists and Letter forms | Chicago Cultural Center | Chicago, IL Neon Wall Sculptures | Alan Koppel Galler y | Chicago, IL Typo | College of DuPage | Glen Ellyn, IL (catalog) From A Position, Curated by Max well Graham | Evanston Ar t Center | Evanston, IL Young Chicago | The Ar t Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL Winter Experiment | moniquemeloche | Chicago, IL
P U B LI C AR T 2016 2007
Hand Eye Hand Hear t, mural | 216 W Chicago, Chicago, IL City of Chicago, CTA Montrose Station Brown Line | Chicago, IL
COLLE CTI ON S Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) | Chicago, IL The Wit Hotel | Chicago, IL The Renaissance Hotel | Chicago, IL Wright | Chicago, IL
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Jason Pickleman, ar tist por trait
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MONIKA WULFERS
INSTALLATION VIEWS argon, glass tubes, transformers, wiring and steel plate varying dimensions 2020 54
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INSTALLATION VIEWS argon, glass tubes, transformers, wiring and steel plate varying dimensions 2020
E D U CATI ON 1968 1973
BA | Nor th Central College | Naper ville, IL MFA | School of the Ar t Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL
SE LE CTE D SOLO E XH I B I TI ON S 2021 2020 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014
Numbers, Lines, and Light | Barnswor th Galler y, Farnswor th House | Plano, IL Online Galler y D-ART 2020 for IV2020 24th International Symposium Digital Ar t | Vienna Austria, and Melbourne, Australia Bridgepor t Ar t Center | Chicago, IL Goethe -Institut Chicago | Chicago, IL Expo Chicago | Chicago, IL Schoenherr Galler y | Nor th Central College | Naper ville, IL Elmhurst Ar t Museum | Elmhurst, IL Special Project, Chicago Expo | Chicago, IL
SE LE CTE D GR OU P E XH I B I TI ON S 2020 2017 2016
On Neon | Ken Saunders Galler y | Chicago, IL Bridgepor t Ar t Center | Chicago, IL Bruno David Galler y | St. Louis, MO Hyde Park Ar t Center | Chicago, IL 5th Annual Ar t Competition, First Prize, Sculpture | Bridgepor t Ar t Center | Chicago, IL Paper | Bridgepor t Ar t Center | Chicago, IL B ergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass | Neenah, WI
AWAR D S 2019 2018 2017 2014 2013
Individual Ar tists Program | Depar tment of Cultural Affairs and Special Events | City of Chicago Individual Ar tists Program | Depar tment of Cultural Affairs and Special Events | City of Chicago The Foundation for Contemporar y Ar ts Emergency Grant Individual Ar tists Program | Depar tment of Cultural Affairs and Special Event | City of Chicago Individual Ar tists Program | Depar tment of Cultural Affairs and Special Events | City of Chicago
P U B LI CATI ON S 2018
Guseli Yalcikaya | 26 November 2018, 16 events celebrating the 100th anniversar y of the Bauhaus, https://w w w.dezeen.com/2018/11/26/bauhaus-events-guide -centenar y-2019/
2016
Review, GlassQuar terly, No. 143, Summer Edition, James Yood
2015
CAA.Reviews, July 2, 2015, Expo Chicago, Chicago: 2014, Kara Jefts CrossRef DOI: 10.3202/caa.reviews.2015.78 http://w w w.caareviews.org/reviews/2500
2014
The Architects Newspaper, Return of the Pier Show, Philip B erger, http://archpaper.com/, 10/17/2014
Running Numbers, The conceptual minimalism of Monika Wulfers, (July 13, weekend edition), Daniel Tiffany, http://hyperallergic.com/136598/running-numbers-the -conceptual-minimalism-of-monika-wulfers/
Light On, Paul Klein, http://w w w.huffingtonpost.com/paul-klein/lighton_b_4656444.html
Monika Wulfers, ar tist por trait
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W W W. K E N S AU N D E R S . CO M
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