Most of my work depicts vintage neon signs. Viewed purely as objects, they provide an interesting variety of shapes, reflective surfaces, rust, peeling paint, glowing light and deep shadows that are both a challenge and a joy to paint. All my life I’ve felt a strange attraction to these signs and the time period in which most of them were created. It was the era of classic roadside “attractions” such as pink dinosaurs, Tee Pee motels, and coffee shops featuring space-age Googie architecture. Though the signs served a functional purpose as eye-catching advertisements for the businesses they adorned (the visual equivalent of screaming, “Look at me!”) they are also works of art in their own right.

I am unsure why I am so fascinated with this era. I am nostalgic for a time period in which I never lived – after all, neon’s “golden years” peaked and were already in decline before I was even born. These signs are remnants of an America that no longer exists, and most likely never did exist – at least not in the way I imagine it. Though many buildings have been demolished and most old signs end up in junkyards, some still pepper our landscape, fossilized remains of the post-war age.

A separate yet subtly related body of work is an ongoing series of paintings featuring bobble head dolls. Their cartoonish forms and bright colors remind me of that time period, and I’m also interested in the cultural notoriety achieved by the real and fictional characters that have been immortalized in this fashion. You have to be pretty high in the pop culture canon to have mass-produced bobble head dolls made in your likeness.

Allen Coleman Melissa Earley Darlene Fuhst JJ Ohlinger Deborah Pagano Alexia Timberlake