Keith Sonnier

Keith Sonnier - Artistic experiments led to sculptures made of neon light

Keith Sonnier was born on 31st July 1941 in Mamou, Louisiana. He initially studied anthropology and art at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1963, and subsequently moved to Paris to devote himself to painting. He returned to the USA for further studies, obtained his master's degree at Rutgers University in New Brunswick in 1966 and finally settled in New York. In the 1960s, alongside other artists such as Dan Flavin, Richard Serra and James Turrell, Sonnier sought to expand the traditional understanding of sculpture; he experimented with volatile and industrial materials, including aluminium, lead, wire, fibreglass and latex. Sonnier soon developed a particular interest in light, especially neon lights, the special properties of which allowed the artist to direct his light sources with sculptural precision and create entire sculptures out of the medium.

Paths of light led the artist to international success

Keith Sonnier did not stop at the radically reduced formal language of Minimalism, but developed his own forms of expression - and was extraordinarily successful with them. As early as 1968, he had his first solo exhibition at the Rolf Ricke Gallery in Cologne, and the following year, he was one of the participants in the exhibition curated by Harald Szeemann, When attitudes become form. Live in your head at the Kunsthalle Bern. Sonnier also cultivated a fruitful relationship with the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York. In the 1970s, the artist began to incorporate the medium of film and video into his projects, and in this very successful decade also took part twice in Documenta in Kassel and once in the Venice Biennale. He himself attributed his fascination with light to an experience in his youth, when he fell seriously ill at the age of 15 and dreamt he was in a tunnel of light - a kind of transcendental experience, similar to a near-death experience, which characterised his development.

Spectacular installation art as a symphony of light and colour

Keith Sonnier has also pushed his art into public spaces: In 1999, he decorated the Kunsthaus in Bregenz with a colourful façade installation, drawing the public's attention spectacularly to his retrospective Environmental Works 1968-1999. One of his most impressive public installations in Germany is the so-called Lichtweg at Munich Airport where passengers move along a plateau of over one kilometre of constantly changing light colours. When choosing his colours, Keith Sonnier is never guided by a particular preference, but keeps an eye on the overall composition. Just as a musician has no favourite note, he also has no favourite colour, explains the artist. He always draws those colours from the entire colour spectrum that lead to the desired result. Keith Sonnier sees himself as a composer who understands the colours as tones and puts them together.  

Keith Sonnier lives and works in New York and Bridgehampton.