Argon Lovers by Lili Lakich

A New Series of Illuminated Sculptures by Lili Lakich

In Art, as in Life, Paradise is in your mind .

These new small sculptures, which I call the “Argon Lovers” series, were inspired by the well-known photo of Billie Holiday with magnolias in her hair. The antique bicycle sprockets, found at swap meets, reminded me of the magnolias from the photo. I created the 12 x 20-inch backlit aluminum silhouettes to wear the “flowers.” The single neon tube on the surface is of a different profile. Thus, the idea of lovers, one face overlaying and illuminating another.

Honeycomb aluminum is a custom fabricated material used in the aerospace industry in the manufacture of airplanes. Lightweight and rigid, it is a perfect material for use with neon as it has absolutely no torque even at large sizes, so the glass tubing can be mounted to it without endangering the tubes due to any flexibility in the material.

Additional gears, water pump wheel, antique lock and key, carpenter's plumb, miniature 8-ball and iron fence wing dings are incorporated into the artworks. The tubes are all pumped with argon (blue) gas rather than neon (orange) gas. The titles of the sculptures reflect the dominant color in each work:

AZURE SKY, COBALT, LAVENDER, URANIUM, MERCURY

Each sculpture is signed by the artist and dated on the back. The sculpture mounts to the wall on three

L-brackets; a template is provided.

Click the thumb nails above to view larger images of each sculpture. Top of Page.