Keith Sonnier “Louisiana Suite”

Kasmin (509 W 27th St.)

[Image: Keith Sonnier "Ba-O-Ba Nice II" (1977/2019) neon, glass, paint, wire, transformer, 83 1/2 x 176 x 11 in. Photograph © Caterina Verde. ]

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Kasmin presents an exhibition of seminal work by Keith Sonnier at the gallery’s flagship space in Chelsea, New York, on view between November 21, 2019, and January 11, 2020. Large-scale works from the ongoing series Ba-O-Ba, which the artist began in 1969, utilize large panes of glass and Sonnier’s signature neon tubing in an abstract composition that forms a confluence between the sculpture and the gallery wall and floor. The neon’s linear quality allows the artist to “draw in space” with light and color, transcending the traditional limits of sculpture in an idiosyncratic visual style now inextricably associated with Sonnier. Based on the Greek mathematical theory of the Golden Ratio, the works are quintessential examples of Sonnier’s ability to masterfully synthesize architecture and light, speaking to a formal inventiveness that has defined nearly six decades of work.

Atmospheric and immersive, Louisiana Suite transforms the architectural space of the gallery into a highly sensory physical and visual experience for the viewer. Developing his earlier work with glass, neon, and mirrors, Sonnier seductively employs colored neon and contrasting glass panels—some perfectly transparent, others dramatically opaque—that together reference both stage sets and large-scale architectural installations. Despite their ephemeral incandescence, the ever-present organizing principles of proportion and balance ground the works in a material reality.