Past Exhibition
10 June – 11 September 2016
Making three-dimensional drawings with neon, American artist Keith Sonnier (b.1941) bathes spaces and bodies in the radiance of coloured light. Coming of age with a group of artists that included Lynda Benglis, Mary Heilmann, Bruce Nauman and Richard Serra, he uses a post-minimalist language that is physically immediate yet associative.
Four major early works made between 1968 and 1970 transform the 19th-century architecture of the gallery, combining neon with other industrial materials like glass, foam rubber and wiring. Geometric form contrasts with dashes of colour and a luminous glow to suggest the syntax of poetry and a nod to Sonnier’s roots in the multi-lingual, Creole culture of Louisiana.
Keith Sonnier: In Conversation
Friday 10 June, 3pm | £9.50/£7.50 concs
American artist Keith Sonnier discusses his sculptures and his pioneering use of neon with Lydia Yee, Whitechapel Gallery Chief Curator. More
Curator’s Tour
Thursday 11 August, 6.30pm | Free, booking required
Assistant Curator Habda Rashid leads a tour of the exhibition Keith Sonnier: Light Works. More
Buy Limited EditionsKeith Sonnier
CODE BA-O-BA (2016)
Sonnier’s Limited Edition for the Whitechapel Gallery takes as its starting point a drawing study for his iconic series Ba-O-Ba.
Read the press release
