Keith Sonnier (Mamou, Louisiana 1941 – Southampton, New York 2020) was among the first and most significant representatives of a generation of artists who pioneered a radical approach to sculpture. After graduating with a B.A. from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette in 1963 he went on to receive an M.F.A. from Rutgers University in 1966, Sonnier began experimenting with industrial and ephemeral materials ranging from latex and satin, to found objects, transmitters and video. Employing previously unusual materials, Sonnier, along with his contemporaries, Eva Hesse, Barry Le Va, Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra, Joel Shapiro, Richard Tuttle, and Jackie Winsor, called all previous concepts of sculpture into question. In 1968 he began creating wall sculptures using incandescent light and then started experimenting with neon which quickly became a defining element of his work, with the aim of giving new form to light and new meaning to the material. Using copper tubing as a template, Sonnier began sketching lines, arches and curves ultimately realized in glass tubing enclosed neon. The linear quality of this chemical element allowed him to draw in space with light and color while colored light interacted with the surrounding architecture. Sonnier often worked in series, some of which he continued to develop over the course of his career. Elements of the first experimental sculptural works were often recognizable in subsequent installations, even in architectural interventions on a monumental scale.

Among the most important that of 2003 in New York City which transformed Gordon Bunshaft’s iconic Lever House, the temporary outdoor installation of the Neue National Galerie by Mies van der Rohe in Berlin in 2002 (BA-O-BA Berlin), Millennium 2000 conceived on the four facades of the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria and Motordom in 2004, one of the largest permanent public installations in Los Angeles, which illuminated the court of the Caltrans District 7 Building in red and blue. Keith Sonnier’s work has been exhibited in solo shows in institutions such as: NOMA, New Orleans (2019), DIA / Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton NY and Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill NY (2018), Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford (2017), Musee d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Nice (2015), BMW Museum, Munich (2012), Louisiana Art and Science Museum, Baton Rouge (2010), Rathausgalerie, Munich and Neue National Galerie, Berlin (2002), Kunsthaus, Bregenz and Parrish Art Museum, Southampton (1999), Kunstverein St. Gallen Kunstmuseum, St. Gallen (1993), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC (1989), Chrysler Museum, Norfolk (1988), Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (1984), MoMA PS1, New York (1983), Center Georges Pompidou, Paris (1979), The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1971), Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1970).

Sonnier took part in over 360 group exhibitions during his career. Among the ones in institutions: Zentrum für Internationale Lichtkunst, Unna (2020), MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles (2019), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2018), British Museum, London (2017), Noguchi Museum, New York (2015), Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Manarat Al Saadiyat (2014), Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (2013), Parrish Art Museum, New York (2012), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2011), Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2004), CAPC, Bordeaux (2002), Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (2001), Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1999), Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon (1997), Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Nice (1996), Drawing Center, New York (1993), Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montréal (1992), National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul (1990), Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (1987), National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (1984), Nationalgalerie, Berlin (1983), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1978), Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1975), National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (1974), Villa Borghese, Rome (1973), Louisiana Museum, Copenhagen (1971). Keith Sonnier also took part in international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale (1982, 1976, 1972) and Documenta, Kassel (1972). Since February 2018, his work has been represented in Italy by Galleria Fumagalli in Milan which organized the solo show “Light Works, 1968 to 2017” in the very same year.

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Arte

September 2020
“Keith Sonnier. Bagno di luce e colore”

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The New York Times

23 July, 2020
“Keith Sonnier, Playful Sculptor In Neon, Dies at 78”

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The Art Newspaper

22 July, 2020
“Neon pioneer Keith Sonnier – who has died aged 78 – honoured with exhibition at New York’s Dia Beacon”

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Artnet

20 July, 2020
“Sculptor Keith Sonnier, America’s Experimental Poet of Light and Neon, Has Died at Age 78”

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Artribune

20 July, 2020
“Muore a 78 anni Keith Sonnier, il poeta delle luci al neon e tra gli esponenti del Minimalismo”

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Luce

December 2018
“Keith Sonnier”

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Flash Art

December 2018 – January 2019
“Keith Sonnier: tra astrazione eccentrica e antiform”

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The New York Times

1 August, 2018
“Stripes and Tangles on Neon, Under the Hamptons Sun”

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Artnet

30 July, 2018
“A Maestro of Post-Minimalism Sculpture, Keith Sonnier Finally Gets His Due in a Trifecta of Summer Exhibitions”

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Artforum

10 July, 2018
“KEITH SONNIER”

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The New York Times

27 January, 2014
“The Sensual, Suggestive Appeal of Keith Sonnier’s Neon Sculptures”

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Flash Art

March – April 2011
“Keith Sonnier. Light and space”

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS

KEITH SONNIER
Cat Doucet Drawings

Opening 1 October, 2020
2 October to 18 December, 2020

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KEITH SONNIER
Light Works. 1968 to 2017

Opening 27 September, 2018
18 September to 19 December, 2018

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