Keith Sonnier, 1981 American Post Minimalist Abstract Art Lithograph Neon Series Keith Sonnier, 1981

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Keith Sonnier, American (1941-2020) lithograph From Neon series circa 1980-1981 Bears the Waterstreet Press watermarks and Arches paper blind stamp … Read more Keith Sonnier, American (1941-2020) lithograph From Neon series circa 1980-1981 Bears the Waterstreet Press watermarks and Arches paper blind stamp to lower right corner. Pub. Edizioni Lucio Amelio Hand signed with initials in pencil Dimensions: 30 x 21 3/4 inches Post minimalist Abstract by Keith Sonnier Keith Sonnier (1941 – 2020) was a post minimalist sculptor, performance artist, video and light artist. Sonnier was one of the first artists to use light in sculpture in the 1960s. With his use of neon in combination with ephemeral materials he achieved international recognition. Sonnier was part of the Process Art movement. James Keith Sonnier was born July 31, 1941, in Mamou, Louisiana. His family was Cajun and Roman Catholic. His father was a hardware store owner, Joseph Sonnier, and his mother was a florist and singer, Mae Ledoux. He graduated in 1963 from Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). In 1966, he graduated with his MFA degree from Rutgers University, where he studied under Allan Kaprow, Robert Watts, and Robert Morris. After graduation from Rutgers, he moved to New York City with Jackie Winsor and some of his former classmates. Sonnier died in Southampton, NY on July 18, 2020. Sonnier began experimenting with neon in 1968. Neon lights became a signature material used in his sculptural works. The common materials Sonnier employed included neon and fluorescent lights; reflective materials; aluminum and copper; and glass and wires. Of the generation of James Turrell and Dan Flavin, He was also associated with the Light and Space movement, a loosely affiliated art movement related to op art, minimalism and geometric abstraction originating in Southern California in the 1960s and influenced by John McLaughlin. It is characterized by a focus on perceptual phenomena, such as light, volume and scale, and the use of materials such as glass, neon, fluorescent lights, resin and cast acrylic, often forming installations conditioned by the work's surroundings. Artists included Ron Cooper, Mary Corse, Maria Nordman, Eric Orr, Keith Sonnier and James Turrell. In 1966 he married the sculptor Jackie Winsor, who at the time was a fellow art student from Rutgers University. Contemporary sculptors and postminimalist artists: Bruce Nauman, Eva Hesse, Richard Tuttle, Barry LeVa. He also published with Styria Studio during the 1980s. This bears the hallmarks of the bright colors of that period seen in the works of Ettore Sottsass, Peter Shire and the Memphis Milano artists. He was included in The New York Collection for Stockholm, 1973 with Lee Bontecou, John Chamberlain, Mark di Suvero, Jim Dine, Öyvind Fahlström, Dan Flavin, Red Grooms, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris, Louise Nevelson, Kenneth Noland, Claes Oldenburg, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, George Segal, Richard Serra, Keith Sonnier, Richard Stankiewicz, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol See less