I absolutely adore this collaborative project by UK artists Richard William Wheater and Victoria Lucas. In 12 Months of Neon Love, the artists put up a neon installations on rooftops featuring well-known song lyrics about love for Valentine’s day in 2012. From Barry White to Joy Division, you’re likely to recognize almost all of them.
12 Months of Neon Love
January – Annie Lennox:
February- Elvis:
March – The Beautiful South:
April – Nirvana:
May – Ian Dury:
June – REM:
July – The Beatles:
August – Amy Winehouse:
September – David Bowie:
October – Joy Division:
November – Barry White:
December- Bob Marley:
A book of the exhibition, embossed, numbered and signed:
A set of postcards made by Neon Press is no longer available.
12 MONTHS OF NEON LOVE
Victoria Lucas / Richard William Wheater
16.5 x 23.4 inches
About Richard Wheaton (from Site Gallery):
Richard William Wheater regularly works with glass and neon through performance and installation. Neon making, in particular, requires a high degree of skill to achieve any sort of successful outcome and the project aims to explore the value of skill when associated with art work. Whilst fascinated with the process, the artist’s practical skill level in neon making is basic, often relying on outsourced skilled labour to fabricate ideas. This is a common practice with artists, though the skilled labour, certainly for neon making, is becoming scarce as digital signage becomes more prevalent.
About Victoria Lucas (from Mark Devereux Projects):
Victoria Lucas (b.1982) is a British artist based in Sheffield. She holds a BA in Fine Art Sculpture from Norwich School of Art (2004) and a MFA in Fine Art from The University of Leeds (2007). Her work has been exhibited internationally, including a solo exhibition at Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia and group shows at Shangri-la, Joshua Tree; Casa Maauad, Mexico City and Vapaan Taiteen Tila, Helsinki.
Recent commissions include a permanent touchscreen artwork for the NHS Wilberforce Health centre in Hull and a video artwork for the National Portrait Gallery in London. She has artist book works in the Tate Archive, the MOMA New York and the V&A collection amongst others. She has worked both independently and collaboratively on a number of curated projects and is currently board director at Bloc Projects in Sheffield. Lucas is a Fine Art Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, where she has recently been awarded Sabbatical Leave.
Victoria Lucas is represented by Mark Devereux Projects.
Richard William Wheater
Victoria Lucas