The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut has acquired the Untitled Neon Canvas art by Stephen Antonakos (for Michael Krichman), 1986, from Stephen Antonakos Studio. The seven-foot-high abstract work is part of Antonakos’s Neon Canvas series-a group of approximately 26 untitled canvases, each parenthetically dedicated to friends.
Newly installed in the Susan Morse Hilles Gallery among contemporary works from 1960 to the present, the glow of neon emanates from Antonakos’s work, reflecting and dissolving in the surrounding space.
Its un-stretched canvas hangs more like a tapestry than a traditional painting; floating inches from the wall, a relief of shadow cast beneath the canvas. Monochromatically painted in varying tones of blue, Antonakos’s hand is evident in the brushwork, which contrasts sharply with the clean geometric line forms of blue and red neon on the surface.
“Antonakos is considered a light art pioneer who, over five decades, explored the many possibilities of neon as a material,” says Patricia Hickson, Emily Hall Tremaine Curator of Contemporary Art. This work joins the Wadsworth’s holdings of contemporary neon and light art including works by Keith Sonnier, Joseph Kosuth, Sam Durant, and Spencer Finch.
The mid-1980s series exemplifies the artist’s central practice since the early 1960s: exploring the qualities of canvas, paint and neon in abstract, geometric compositions. His work is defined by the relationship of material forms with one another and their relationship to its site as a whole.
Antonakos is best known for his abstract work in neon including wall and floor sculptures, room installations, and Public Works that engage with architecture, such as the New York City landmarks Neon for 42nd Street, installed 1981, and Neon for the 59th Street Marine Transfer Station, installed 1990.
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