Image via Complex Original
The use of neon in art is definitely not new. Vapor-tube devices filled with gas were invented in the early 1900s and were being shaped and used in advertising by the 1930s. In the decades that followed, the artistic uses for neon tubing became more apparent, and people continued to experiment with the fragile medium.
When used correctly, neon can be much more beautiful than that old dusty sign hanging in the window of a bar. It behaves unlike any other medium and takes physical skill to manipulate. The combination of color and light are also unique to neon, making it a medium of choice for many as a vehicle to convey emotion and ideas. Here is a list of 20 Incredible Neon Artists who have mastered the medium and who continue to push its boundaries.
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John Issacs
John Issacs
John Issacs is most known for his realistic (and often grotesque) sculpture work, but the artist is also skilled with other media. The works seen here represent literal and theoretical human contraditions in neon form.
Joseph Kosuth
Joseph Kosuth
A word that appears often in describing Kosuth's work is "self-referential." Critics have questioned whether or not what Kosuth makes is art, being that some of his neons only exist to describe themselves (see first image). Kosuth is quoted as saying "All I make are models. The actual works of art are ideas."
Kelly Mark
Kelly Mark
Canadian artist Kelly Mark's work is inspired by her everyday life and is often meant to be self-critical and funny.
Soledad Arias
Soledad Arias
Arias combines her visual art with sound features, creating a "multi-sensory experience, and challenging conventional perceptions of language." Unlike many neon artists, her work is monochromatic as a way of "emphasizing their graphic properties."
Website / image via
Lori Hersberger
Lori Hersberger
Herberger not only uses the neon tubes in his art, but the Swiss artist also considers the reflections and how the neon interacts with the objects he places around them.
Cerith Wyn Evans
Cerith Wyn Evans
Evans is another artist whose work with text is informed by a fascination with language and perception, providing messages using common objects that convey open-ended messages.
Robert Montgomery
Robert Montgomery
Montgomery may be one of the more poetic artists on this list, adding another layer of beauty to his neon sentences.
Alexandro Diaz
Alexandro Diaz
Diaz's neon signs began in the 1990s as hand-written cardboard signs that he called "Mexican Wallpaper." He says of his work, "My text-based works rely on quotations and selections of language that are meant to be economic and dialectic in quality: to lift, verbalize, and draw ideas from broad societal and linguistic frameworks of everyday languages."
Laddie John Dill
Laddie John Dill
The artist began working with gas-filled tubes in 1969, inspired by Rauschenberg, Oppenheim, and Irwin who were using "earth materials, light, and space as an alternative to easel painting." His work explores the relationship between natural and man-made materials and most of his installations are site-specific.
Website / image via
Ivan Navarro
Ivan Navarro
We love Navarro's neon work. The repetition, color choices, and patterns are amazing. The DIE piece is a little disturbing...we probably wouldn't walk down that way.
Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman
Nauman has been creating since the 1960s and is still going strong, winning the Golden Lion at the 2009 Venice Biennale and being lauded as being one of "the critical American artists of the last four decades, one whose work has fundamentally shaped our idea of what art is" two years prior.
Leila Pazooki
Leila Pazooki
Pazooki's work considers borders and the often abitrary constraints that come with them. Her neon piece Moment of Glory addresses the silly categorization and comparisons that she often faces in the art world, choosing not to conform to the systems of classification that others are so eager to place her in.
Website / image via
Yael Bartana
Yael Bartana
Yael is described as an Israeli video artist but her neon pieces are as captivating and deeply political as the videos she produces.
James Clar
James Clar
We loved Clar's Nemo piece at Art Basel 2012. The American artist, like many others who work with neon and light art in general, has a fascination with technology and systems of light and communication. His neon pieces grew out of the light systems that he explored and created and often deal with "socio-political issues or inward personal emotions."
Leo Villareal
Leo Villareal
If you've been in New York and traveled via the 6 train, chances are you've seen Villareal's neon work in the Bleecker Street subway station. He approaches his art from a very technically standpoint, writing on his site that his work "is focused on stripping systems down to their essence to better understand the underlying structures and rules that govern how they work." Highlights of his career also include his Buckyball light installation in Madison Square Park and his massive installation on the Bay Bridge in California.
Website / image via
Patrick Martinez
Patrick Martinez
You may remember Patrick Martinez taking the crown as Complex's Man of Next Year in Art & Design last November. All of his work is dope, but his neon pieces are especially intriguing as he takes slang and hip hop references and turns them into glowing and often hilarious social commentary.
Glenn Ligon
Glenn Ligon
Ligon's works deal largely with themes of race, identity, and intertexuality. He uses the text from novels and speeches in both his paintings and neon pieces to explore and provide commentary on American History and culture.
Brent Birnbaum
Brent Birnbaum
We featured a Brent Birnbaum piece back in 2012 as one of the highlights of Art Basel. The Texas-born, New York-based artist was recently featured as one of VH1's You Oughta Know: SCOPE Artists on the Rise alongside talent like Patrick Martinez. While neon is not his primary medium, these pieces use the same "tongue-in-cheek" approach of his other works while addressing very real themes.
Dan Flavin
Dan Flavin
Flavin was an American installation artist who began working with light in mid 1960s. He became known as the "originator of minimal art" and though he died in 1996, fans of his work can still experience several of his permanent installations across parts of the United States and Europe.
Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
With installations in Times Square and an exhibit at MOCA North Miami during Art Basel this year, Tracey Emin has been steadily growing her already large fanbase. She has been working with neon for over two decades and MOCA executive director Bonnie Clearwater once referred to her as "one of the most significant female artists of her generation." P. Diddy was impressed enough to buy her work so that says something...right?