Neon dreams to warm a wintry heart
Tracey Emin with Love Is What You Want (2011) Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
In the darkness of winter, art can provide just the mental lift we need, especially when the artwork is electric.
Artists such as Dan Flavin, Martin Creed, Bruce Nauman and Tracey Emin have all worked with neon lights. When neon signage was first displayed at the 1910 Paris Motor Show, its potential was quickly exploited by advertisers, reaching its peak in the extravagant, glitzy displays of Times Square in the 1960s. While the use of neon for advertising has declined since then, neon it has been wholeheartedly adopted by artists this century. Using the brash language of casinos, motels, burger joints and strip clubs, contemporary artists highlight their modern messages in neon., making them the ideal artworks for brightening up our post-festive holiday mood.
Martin Creed is an artist best known for his controversial 2001 win of the Turner Prize with Work No 227: The Lights Going On and Off; an installation work where lights switch off and on in an empty room. Visitors to Edinburgh’s Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art will recognise his bold neon sign which illuminates the façade of the gallery, asserting Everything Is Going To Be Alright. The electric energy of the neon delivery is slightly at odds with the flat message and while this artwork offers a reassuring tone, it is also a little unsettling. Is it simply offering reassurance for those of us having a bad day? Will everything really be alright? It sums up our delicate post-party mood precisely.
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Tracey Emin’s love-struck neon artworks look as gushingly sentimental as any Valentine card. Emin spins her words in candy-coloured lights, with romantic declarations such as My Heart is With You/And I Love You/Always Always Always and You forgot to Kiss my Soul. Emin’s work may look sugar-sweet, but that would ignore the bitter tang of loss and the autobiographical references which are trademarks of her work. These desperately heartfelt messages are juxtaposed with the seedier associations of the medium, fluorescent memories drawn from the Margate seafront where Tracey grew up.
Neon lights can create artworks which are upbeat, yet complex, and can help us think about the mixed feelings we have at this time of year. These bright lights can be positively uplifting too. As Emin says, “Neon makes you feel good. That’s why you have it in funfairs”.
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Weather for Edinburgh
Thursday 23 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 7 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 26 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 29 mph
Wind direction: West
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