Review: Keith Sonnier’s neon drawings open portals to another place
Keith Sonnier calls his new wall drawings in neon, wire and electrical transformers “portals,” and their design motifs and titles do refer to forms from ancient Roman and medieval architecture, often ecclesiastical. Elegant and deceptively simple, they display a masterful hand.
Humor is part of the reason why. In 13 recent works at Maccarone Gallery, Sonnier stirs it in with a subtle hand.
In these sculptures, the white wall is an idealized plane separating space and metaphorically opened by the glowing illumination of neon color. The shapes are drawn in bent glass tubing and draped wire and they often protrude, sometimes at oblique angles, into the room.
But Sonnier keeps these impressive works at least as playful as they are earnest. Perhaps that is why his cut-paper studies for the neons sometimes suggest a jester’s mask. They are all the more complex for it.
Maccarone Gallery, 300 S. Mission Road, Los Angeles, (323) 406-2587, through May 7. Closed Sunday and Monday. www.maccarone.net
christopher.knight@latimes.com
From the Oscars to the Emmys.
Get the Envelope newsletter for exclusive awards season coverage, behind-the-scenes stories from the Envelope podcast and columnist Glenn Whipp’s must-read analysis.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.