Topic: Neon Lights
Night would not be the same without neon lights glowing in our cities, towns and way stations, dancing in between heaven and earth, sparkling the ambience with color and a buzzing noise. Advertising would not have been the same...
It seems that Neon lights were first invented in France by Georges Claudes in 1910... Soon these fantastic lights were discovered by an American voyager -. Earle C. Anthony- and brought them to the United States. The impact the two signs acquired by Anthony was such that people gathered together staring at the signs bewitched by the invention.
In spite of its apparent French origin, neon lights would become –throughout the years- an American trade mark to big cities of town centers.
Advertising was neon lights lei-motive... It was the figurative expression to the American Dream. And the 50s cannot be recalled upon without picturing these dazzling bright color lights.
However soon came the 60s and neon appeared to the public cultural eye as tacky and low-life...
The 70s came to neon artists as a rebirth –along with the 80s- and a broad expansion of this particular art form to the entire globe.
1970s Buenos Aires downtown famous 9 of July Avenue was made over and modernized. Combined with avant-garde buildings blended into a landscape tanned by a strong 19th century French influence, the new and Modern city of Tango was transitioning to Pop culture...
In the 1980s neon signs and works transcended the mere world of publicity and advertising, as neon artisans began to create night sculptures of art.
Together with this new artistic development of the neon artwork came along several technical innovations. It was a basic need to the artists who needed their raw material to be more flexible in order to accomplish in concrete what appeared in their minds as an artistic ideal. Hence the transformation and transition from old to the new neon. The key to understand the difference between these two is in the manner in which each is illuminated. Old neon uses heavy wrapped copper wire coiled around an iron core transformer, whose main objective was to stabilize the design at a certain position. The new neon feature lightweight transformers allowing the artist a broader material movement; however these are easy to break pieces due to the mobility hence they have to be weighted down somehow or bracketed against something. And yet, many collectors prefer them.
See Image Gallery of Buenos Aires and its Neon Lights at night:
Neon Lights in down town Buenos Aires
Email Bob Frassinetti. The Buenos Aires Art Dealer,Argentina.
Bob Frassinetti. Copyright 2005. Roberto Dario Frassinetti.
Posted by bob frassinetti
at 12:58 PM
Updated: Thursday, 5 May 2005 1:15 PM
