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ABOVE: a detail of the dramatic, story-telling neon SEA TRADE

BELOW: MAPLE TOWER, a free-standing sculpture, 84 x 32 x 12 inches

As Ratbun was making the neon collages, he reviewed a number of important concepts in his mind-- for instance the idea that the medium is more important than any implied message. He says he was primarily engaged with the application and visual effect of the materials-- engrossed in the color, texture, the harmony and dissonance of those materials (wood, glass, paper, paint) and elements such as light, shadow, and form.

But an artist cannot hide from the emotions, memories, and ideas which are dominant in his life. Nor should he try to do so. In the end it is IDEA which breathes meaning into the lush, brilliant, dramatic forms which he creates-- whether it comes up bidden or unbidden.
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO REVIEW ENTIRE COLLECTION WITH DETAILS AND PRICING
Good Times and Ba
AT LEFT, and ABOVE: GOOD TIMES AND BAD: an autobiographical meditation on growing up during times of war and peace; the family disrupted by absence, a child distracted by the conflicts of hero-worship and anxiety for family members... wall-hanging, 32 x 40 x 5 inches
Notes on Neon by William Rathbun, Sept. 22, 2002:
Several years ago I saw a collection of paper models for sculptures by Picasso. They were fragile, discolored... these delicate three-dimensional documents had endured the battering of time and nature's elements by the strength and truth of their simple existence-- like the wings of butterflies. They spoke to something in me. I had the same response to the sculptures of Nevelson and Duchamp.

These works defy the notion that art must be beautiful, functional, or decorative. Those artists did not need to use message- making for their work to have significance. Their use of materials gave their work a kind of temporal integrity. In this sense they are more like music than they are like traditional painting or sculpture.
SundownABOVE: SUNDOWN (early piece no longer available)
Rathbun states:

Although many of the objects and images used in these collages are loaded with literal content and are unavoidably symbolic, as well as being deliberately cliche', my main intention is to have the overall work stand on its own.

I want to use the juxtaposition of imagery and textural materials with neon to get an emotional and psychological result. Their fragile and temporal qualities are very intentional.

Although some of their design elements may seem random, most aspects of these collages are considered and deliberate.
ABOVE: EVERGREEN, free-standing neon glass sculpture, 144" x 40" x 24".

AT LEFT: Detail of EVERGREEN,

BELOW: HUNTING SEASON, with Detail below, LEFT.
...or click here for Rathbun non-neon art: