Abstract neon artist Linda Sue Prices sees herself as”an investigator of cultural phenomena; one who endeavors, with the aid of
observations, history/science/philosophical readings, to arrive at a point of reference that connects the human experience with all of the other parts of the environment.”
The beautiful zen of her investigations is infused in so much of her work. She notes that in the past she created a series of work about “Connections and Enlightened Systems” that featured a quote from Black Elk, “All Things are our Relatives.” More recently, she reports that she read a book by Malcolm Gladwell, Blink.
“It was an exploration of intuition. I didn’t think I was intuitive, but have since come to recognize that I am and have relied on that
and trust to make my choices. I had always thought of myself as fearful and pragmatic. It has been an interesting process discovering my core,” she explains.
The artist’s current series of neon works is titled It’s Always Something. “So far, I have completed three pieces. I am using a new process of just letting the work reveal itself,” she says.
Her bending process is always developing. “Even benders with years more experience than I, share that they are still learning, too. My bending style is free-form, not to pattern. Most people who bend, do it to a pattern on a work bench. I typically heat the glass and then bend in the air. It has been described as having a conversation with the glass or as dancing with the glass.”
Describing this process, she says “There are three things you have to do: heat the right amount of glass, get it hot enough, and heat it evenly. Sounds simple. I struggled with even heating until recently. It turned out I was too low in the fire.” Price adds that “At times, it feels like therapy because you can’t bring any attitude with you as you enter the fire with the tube. No expectations, no willfulness, you just have to learn how to ‘be’. Once I finally got to that space, I finally started to really seeing the glass and recognizing what the glass was saying to me. I finally got the message.”
In the past several years, Price has made other changes to her work as well. “I started adding a digital frame with an animated video to some of my work. I realized that when doing video animation, after the structure is defined then I moved into a ‘play’ or ‘flow’ space where I experimented and discovered moments that appealed to me. That caused me to recognize that I don’t do that when I’m bending.”
According to the artist, “Bending, for me, was structure and process. I decided to try bringing flow to my bending once the process was taken care of. I’ve spent the last year moving in the that direction. That triggered a change in how I approach making a piece. Mostly everything is flow now except specific things that have to be structure and process.”
She likes texture and uses a variety fo elements to create the right texture for neon light to “play with.” She says that material can range from “paint to washers, to acrylic rods and spheres, mirrors and chains, fake gemstones, beads, scrub cloth, electrical tape… you name it… nothing is safe.”
Thematically her current series It’s Always Something, serves as a commentary “about the increasing challenges we all face just doing typical activities like paying bills, almost getting hacked, unexpected aches, illnesses, traffic, the cost of everything, the list goes on and on.”
Currently, Price is exhibiting at Diversions Fine Arts in the Manhattan Beach gallery’s exhibition Midsummer, but she has plenty of other opportunities to show ahead, from an art fair in Oregon to a solo show at a downtown Los Angeles. Regardless of wehre she is showing, the artist’s work is always as fresh, vibrant, and alive as she is herself.
“Each tube I bend can be considered custom because it is. I can’t duplicate most of the tubes I create. My moods change so my conversation with the tubes change. As my skills develop, I do new moves and can’t go back to what I was.” She notes that “Neon light is a peaceful calming energy. It is different from a painting; activating it involves plugging it into an electrical outlet just like you would do with a floor lamp.”
And yet so much more beautiful, experiential, and lustrous. To see Price’s literally and figuratively brilliant new series, is not to be “blinded by the light” but to be enLIGHTened by it.
Midsummer, with Price’s lustrous neon, is on display through July 26th. Open house at Diversions Fine Arts, 12-4 Saturday July 25th; artists talk/closing reception July 26th, 1-3. DFA is located at 1069 N. Aviation in Manhattan Beach.
- Genie Davis; photos by Linda Sue Price and Genie Davis