Artist Steve Lambert's Capitalism Works For Me lets passersby take a stand by hitting a 'true' or 'false' button.

New York-based artist Steve Lambert’s ”Capitalism Works For Me” project is a 9 ft by 20 ft by 7 ft illuminated sign that lets passersby vote on the statement by pushing a “true” or “false” button on a podium that comes with the sign. As the passersby choose their stand, their answers are added to the sign’s scoreboard.
Created in 2011, the interactive neon sign has been exhibited in cities across the United States. The sign was displayed recently at Times Square and will be exhibited again in October for the 2013 Crossing The Line Festival and Times Square Arts.      read  more....

Bright future

Bethany Improvement Foundation members hope a billboard museum would spur tourism.

 

“Today, we think of billboards as this rectangle thing on a pole,” said Kathy Anderson of the the Bethany Improvement Foundation.
But in the heyday of Route 66, billboards were often lower to the ground, displayed hand-painted art or art deco design and sometimes even were three-dimensional structures with people inside demonstrating products, she said.
“They were designed for a slower lifestyle,” Anderson said. “It was a very different feel to things.”
The museum will tell the evolution of the structures, neon and porcelain signs and the artists who designed and painted them.
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Exhibition Features 30 Of The Most Influential Contemporary Black Artists

 Glenn Ligon. America, 2008. Neon sign and paint, Ed. AP, 24 x 168 in. Rubell Family Collection, Miami

One family has produced area's signs of the times

 By then, Roy C. Kinsey Sign Co. had taken a major step that paved the way for a lot of its future business, and some of the biggest and most famous projects it would ever do. In 1933 it opened a neon sign plant, the first in Virginia.

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Photographing Shop Signs & Window Displays

 A medium zoom lens with your DSLR will get you close to the signs without you having to borrow some ladders off a window cleaner and it'll also work for capturing shop windows too. You'll also need to carry a tripod if you plan on returning later in the evening when the neon's get switched on. It'll also help if you have a camera that performs well in low light, such as the Canon EOS 70D, and if you don't want the street reflected in your shot take a polariser along as well.

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Beacon Ethyl Gasoline sign could fetch $40,000-$60,000 at Matthews Auctions

Yochai Matos Light Installations.

 http://www.yellowtrace.com.au/2013/09/30/yochai-matos-light-installations/

Sam the Record Man sign maker hopes his neon records spin again

Jack Markle created the Sam the Record Man sign and the computer that illuminated Honest Ed’s. He’s saddened Toronto's neon history is fading.

Jack Markle, 74, has illuminated Toronto's streets since the 1960s. He designed the Sam the Record Man sign and built the computer that runs the Honest Ed's sign.  

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The Neon Halos…

The Rainier Beer ‘R’ and other Seattle neon we love and miss

If you like neon and Seattle’s cultural icons – and want to see cool old pictures of dancing Rainier Beers – this slideshow will fulfill that need.

They're not much to look at by day. But by night, they light up the sky and welcome you home. Around for decades and key to the landscape, they're Seattle's classic neon signs. 

 A close-up of the P-I globe, on which "New Zealand" suffers from rust.

With the welcomed return of Rainier Beer's "R" to the skyline, here's our take for the best neon signs in Seattle. Some are long gone and others no longer glow, but all are iconically Seattle.

After you see how many signs you recognize, check out the slideshow below for more details on the return of the Rainier Beer "R."

Meet the Walthamstow geezer with a heart of neon

A couple of weeks back we told you about God’s Own Junkyard – a beautifully chaotic showroom-slash-museum of neon art in Walthamstow, which is sadly due to close as (yep, you guessed it) developers want to build flats on the site. If you’ve not got time to squeeze in a visit before the shutters roll down for good, check out our video tour with Chris Bracey, the no-nonsense east London geezer responsible for the city’s single biggest collection of illuminated art.

Tracey Emin Donates £40k Neon Art For Cancer Charity

A piece of L.A. history awaits a return to its neon glamour

A 1958 Grauman's dragon was used for decades, then lost and eventually found — trashed. The Museum of Neon Art is looking for money to restore it to its former glory.

 

Artist reflects on his craft

His earliest influences of neon art were marquees at The Ritz Theatre and Tiffin Drive In, neon artist and Tiffin native Michael Flechtner told an audience Wednesday evening at Tiffin University.
Flechtner, a 1970 graduate of Columbian High School who now lives in Van Nuys, Calif., is the designer of the U.S. Postal Service "Celebrate" stamp.
He discussed how he creates his neon work, the first of which he designed in 1980, although he did not bend the glass himself at the time.

Neon artist who lit up Raymond's Soho clubs faces move from studio after legal battle

Historic: Chris Bracey’s work lit up Soho’s famous clubs and a host of films Picture: Jeremy Selwyn

An artist whose neon signs illuminated Paul Raymond’s Soho clubs faces eviction from his studios.

Chris Bracey’s neon artworks have appeared in many films, from Eyes Wide Shut starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise to World War Z with Brad Pitt. But after a two-year battle to stay at God’s Own Junkyard in Walthamstow he faces eviction so a developer can build flats.
Mr Bracey, 58, started his career creating fairground lights and then in the 1970s making signs for Soho sex and property baron Paul Raymond, lighting up adult venues including Raymond’s Revue Bar and Windmill Theatre. Nicknamed the “The King of Neon”, Mr Bracey employs 14 artists