neon

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Photography

Nightshift: An Illuminated Glimpse Into Shanghai’s Late Night Shops and Stalls

While in town for a shoot for Shanghai Photofairs this past summer, photographer Florian Mueller would wander through the city’s streets, meeting the owners of food stalls and other businesses that stayed open into the night. The series, Nightshift, observes the inviting glow that emanates from Shanghai’s after-hours operations in addition to showcasing those that staff the small shops during the humid evenings. Flowers, carbonated beverages, cell phone cases, and ripe citrus are just some of the illuminated items that appear in the suite of works. You can see more images from Nightshift on Mueller’s website and Behance, and follow his travels on Instagram.

Photography

The Neon Archives: An Exploration of Hong Kong’s Fading Neon Landscape

Hong Kong has long been infused with the glowing haze produced by its omnipresent neon signs and advertisements. Recently this saturated element of the city has begun to disappear as maintenance and rent costs rise and government regulation steps in. Local photographer Dennis Isip intends to preserve this aspect of his city’s history through a series titled The Neon Archives.

Started in 2017, the ongoing photography series captures this retreating feature of the city’s culture with images that preserve Hong Kong’s vivid nightlife. “Neon lights define Hong Kong’s character and without it, the city’s identity is lost,” he tells Colossal. “The Neon Archives hope is to capture each neon sign in Hong Kong before they fade away.” (via Colossal Submissions)

Photography

Aerial Explorations of International Cityscapes Washed in a Neon Glow by Xavier Portela

After a visit to Tokyo in 2014, self-taught photographer Xavier Portela became frustrated by how static and two-dimensional his images appeared. His photographs didn’t capture the emotions, acute stimulation of senses, or electric feeling one experiences while gliding through the bright lights of a foreign city with jet lag-induced insomnia. To explore this vibrancy and atmosphere Portela began to manipulate the colors in his images, amplifying their saturation to make each reflect what the brain remembered, but the original image couldn’t convey.

“When you are taking photographs on the streets you have way more than just a frame, you have variables like temperature, noise, people, smell,” Portela tells Colossal. “You have tons of details that make our senses and brain record a specific ‘scene’ of that moment. When you got home and you look at your photographs on screen, you only have a frame in two dimensions. It’s frustrating how much information you just lost… I wanted my shots to look like as if they came straight out of a manga. Vibrant and electric.”

Portela’s series Glow is an ongoing archive of urban images from his trips to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, New York City, and more. Each photograph is edited with a wash of neon-inspired pink, blue, and purple lights. Although previous series have included photography taken on the street, more recently he has begun to produce aerial views of the sparkling cities below. You can see more images from the Belgo-Portuguese photographer and filmmaker on Instagram and Behance. (via This Isn’t Happiness)

Art

Colorful Light Sculptures by James Clar Interpret Technology’s Effects on Our Perceived Reality

James Clar, Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! (2015), neon, 125 x 155 cm

Artist James Clar creates sculptural light systems that interpret the ways modern technology has altered our perception of reality and time. His multi-colored works often imitate society’s relationship to the screen, such as in his work Increasing Resolution, which shows the rapid incline of digital resolution on our TVs, computers, and phones, or his 2015 sculpture Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! which expresses the loosening of language structures due to an increasing dependence on communicating through technological devices.

“The majority of our daily experience and information comes from the artificial light sources of our screens and phones, shifting our habitat from the physical space around us to the non-physical space of online digital systems” explains Clar in an artist statement.

Clar received his masters in interactive telecommunication from New York University. He has an upcoming solo exhibition at Jane Lombard Gallery in NYC later this year. You can see more of the artist’s work on his Instagram and website.

Space Is A Hologram (2014), LED lights, filters, wire, 105 x 120 cm

Nemo (2013), fluorescent lights, filters, 130 x 75 cm

Binary Star, (2016), LEDs, filters, wire, 190 x 190 cm

Increasing Resolution (2012), fluorescent lights, filters, 120 x 190 cm

Thermal Energy (2013), 160 x 120 x 90 cm

Horizontal Force (2015), LEDs, filters, wire, 220 x 120 cm

BOOM (2011), fluorescent lights, acrylic tubes and light filters, 85 x 120 cm

Art Photography

Abstracted Street Puddles Awash in Neon by Slava Semeniuta

Photographer and artist Slava Semeniuta, who goes by the name Local Preacher, recently noticed the glimmering reflective beauty of the streets of Sochi after an evening rain. As the artist tells Colossal, he had his camera handy and was able to “show the hidden beauty under our feet.” The series of dramatically-colored photographs isolates neon shop window reflections in puddles and potholes and transforms the captured moments into otherworldly landscapes. Semeniuta is based in Sochi, Russia, and shares his work on Behance and Instagram.

Art

Explosive Light-Based Installations by Adela Andea

Romanian-born artist Adela Andea creates futuristic light installations that range from wall-based works to immersive environments. The pieces appears as lit explosions, with LED lights, magnifying lenses, and flex neon springing outwards in a blend of chaos and control. Despite their composition of electrified material, each work is inspired by a natural phenomena. Andea looks to bioluminescent sea life, melting icebergs, and cosmological events to shape the composition and meaning of her large-scale installations.

Andea is currently represented by Anya Tish Gallery in Houston and Cris Worley Fine Arts in Dallas. You can see more of her neon-based installations on her website. (via The Jealous Curator)