Lou Jaworski, LA NOTTE VERTICAL REMIX, 2024

2024

Medium

Handcut Serpentine verde and aluminum

Dimensions

248 × 3 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-156035

At first glance, Lou Jaworski's wall piece “LA NOTTE VERTICAL REMIX” (2024) resembles a standard neon light, but closer inspection reveals that it is made of dark green stone rods. Jaworski's work often pushes the limits and metaphorical meanings of materials. For “LA NOTTE VERTICAL REMIX”, he cut thin cylinders of serpentino verde, giving the solid materiality of serpentinite, with its high iron content, the fragile connotation of glass. However, the deep dark color of the Italian stone contrasts with the usual bright light source, suggesting an association with a black light tube. The vertical arrangement of the two tubes, installed one above the other, creates the impression of a column and draws attention to the surrounding architecture, which is affected by the work. In addition, the 120 cm long rods also reveal the material memory of the stone, like samples from geological cores. The advent of neon lighting, especially in public buildings and in the cityscape, had an impact on the perception of spaces and their design through a blanket of colored lettering. The perceptual influence of neon on everyday life has been used by artists in their creative processes and is part of a long material-aesthetic tradition. Jaworski refers to this and transfers the serial industrial product of the fluorescent tube back into the most traditional sculptural material, stone, creating a perceptive ambivalence between materiality, value, and industrial progress.