La Cienega & West Third: Neon Artworks by Donna Gough and David Otis Johnson

         

LAUNCH LA is proud to present La Cienega & West Third, a neon light exhibition by local artists Donna Gough and David Otis Johnson. These artists illuminate this intersection of commerce and culture through neon art.  Using techniques that dazzled the world since the early 21st century, these contemporary artists use the allure of light coupled with vivid color to move beyond drawing attention and commercialization to give us astute and enticing commentary on present day life. From abstraction to 3D objects to text, these artists use this former tool of branding and sales to redirect our gaze and present a deeper message.  

This public art installation is a study of light, space and time located in a glass-walled, vacant retail space in the perimeter of the Beverly Connection shopping center at the corner of La Cienega Blvd. and West Third Street.  The exhibition is available for public viewing from December 19th 2022 through January 28th, 2023, 5pm – 11pm daily.  La Cienega & West Third is made possible through the generous support of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the Beverly Connection.

Donna Gough - Thoughts about Time, in Space, 2022

Donna Gough’s latest work, Thoughts About Time, In Space is a 16 piece neon sculpture measuring 60 inches long by 45 inches high and 38 inched deep of bent glass elaborately suspended from the ceiling by a system of wires and hand crafted connectors undetectable to the naked eye at the viewing distance.

“I've truly loved this sculptural process and it's always a huge relief to finally see the work inhabit a space as I'd imagined. Conceptually, the work considers the collective human experience of time – and our way of being suspended ‘in a moment of time’ as it unfolds in space”, explains Gough.

Gough’s second piece, titled Valueless utilizes repurposed neon box letter signage to raise awareness and encourage reflection on the current state of consumption and importance of recycling today.

David Otis - Ring, 2019

David Otis Johnson works with neon light and many other mediums to create installations and stand alone sculptures. His most recent series explores the dimensionality of neon and the plane of the powder coated surface, often using an illuminated aperture creating an impression of infinite depth. Formally, his work functions as a celebration of the luminous tube.  

David Otis - Dawn, 2019

David Otis Johnson works with neon light and many other mediums to create installations and standalone sculptures. His most recent series explores the dimensionality of neon and the plane of the powder-coated surface, often using an illuminated aperture creating an impression of infinite depth. Formally, his work functions as a celebration of the luminous tube.  

David Otis was born in Western Nebraska and learned the art of neon in 2002 in Hollywood, FL.  He received his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004 and has used neon in his artwork since. He has exhibited internationally as well as the Museum of Neon Art. He currently lives in Ojai, California.

Donna Gough’s multidisciplinary art practice links elements from drawing, painting, installation and light-based media – exploring the real and the referential with parallels of light and consciousness underpinning her conceptual framework. Her practice is an ongoing inquiry into concepts of the ‘unknown’ and the illusion of time (ourselves) flowing continuously from past to present and into the future.

In her early formative years as a designer in London, Donna developed a love of typography and minimalist design that flowed into her 30-year design practice and  where threads can be seen in her current day art works.  An opportunity for an animation traineeship at the Disney studios in Sydney in 2005 was pivotal in her conceptual thinking. It was here that she started to think deeply about time and how we experience it.

Her more recent Master of Fine Art studies at UNSWA&D in Sydney encouraged a fusion of traditional art school subjects such as drawing and painting with cutting edge technology such as 3D printing and spatial computing (AR). This was a perfect environment for her to bring the depth of her technology driven design practice into her art works.

Born in Australia, she now lives and works in Los Angeles and considers it home. She splits her time between Los Angeles and her art studio in Joshua Tree where the stillness of desert life allows her to fully focus on her work.