The "Dutch Masters"; At it again.

With the help and support of the local community two Dutch artists, Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahan, have helped transform 34 houses in Santa Marta, one of Rio de Janeiro's most rundown neighbourhoods, into a stunning piece of urban art. The project called O Morro (The Hill) has allowed the locals to recieve a small wage while working as well as invaluable training in all aspects of painting.


Jeroen and Koolhaas started working together in 2005 while filming a documentory about the hip hop movement in the favelas of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro. In 2006 they embarked on one of two massive murals, the first, three stories high and covering 150 square metres. The massive picture, of a boy flying a kite, took over 3 months to complete with the invalueable help of local youth and has since recieved worldwide aclaim.

Check out their facebook page and website for more information and to give a donation to the project.

More Not Neon....

There's nothing like a tin of red paint and a paint brush for getting the message across.

Just a couple of spray cans...

It's not all Neon Signs...

Much as I love the "Neon Sign" in all its various forms, I've  always been interested in Mankind's need to make his mark on his surroundings. From the fabulous cave painting at Lascaux in France to our modern day graffiti, it would seem that we have an inbuilt need to mark our territory. Here's a few examples that I've spotted along the way.

This was one of many hundreds of carvings, dating back several hundred, years on a rocky outcrop at "Little Switzerland" in Luxembourg.

This was spotted carved into a prickly pear on the island of Paxos, Greece.

Again in Paxos, this old olive tree and rock have been used to mark the boundries of an olive grove.

I photgraphed the above while working at the Venice Bienalle in 2009. Remarkably there is a surprisingly large ammount of graffiti throughout Venice, "Queen of the Adriatic".

Also spotted in Venice this beautiful stove enameled sign reading "Dangerous to Touch".

And finally...Not elegant but to the point.

It doesn't get much better than this.....

The Neon Museum in Las Vegas is host to more than 150 of the cities old and iconic neon signs dating back as far as the 1930's. Established in 1996 the museum started with a sizable donation from the Young Elecric Sign Company (YESCO) who gave over their "bone yard" of old and retired signs.

The museum is currently undergoing a major refurbishment which will include a new visitors centre and will allow their fantastic collection the space it needs to be properly displayed.

The Neon Museum's mission is to collect, preserve, study and exhibit neon signs and associated artifacts to inspire educational and cultural enrichment.

Although the "Bone Yard" is currently closed while the refurbishment takes place it is still possible to arrange, by prior appointment, a visit to this fantastic collection before they reopen in 2011.

A superb selection of signs from the golden days of Las Vegas. Don't forget your camera.

The Neon Lights of Frankfurt.

The Lufthansa Aviation Centre located in the South West of Frankfurt lies on a thin strip between the motorway and Frankfurt Airport. Built as offices to house some 1800 staff, the building comprises eight, six storey glass office blocks positioned diagonally opposite to each other, with eight six storey atriums positioned diagonally opposite to them, in a checker pattern. In each of the eight giant atriums, gardens have been planted acting as both the lungs of the building and as noise barriers, allowing staff to open their office windows onto a quiet and tranquil space.

Designed by Architect Christoph Ingenhoven at Ingenhoven Architects, Dusseldorf this impossing structure of glass and steel also houses the works of seven well known artists. Michael Beutler, Thomas Demand, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Liam Gillick, Carsten Nicolai, Beat Streuli and Cerith Wyn Evans were all comissioned by Lufthansa to produce pieces reflecting both the building and the Lufthansa identity.
In 2006 I was contacted by Robert Smith at Aztec Modelmakers, Teddington, Middlesex to discuss the production of some neon tubes for a project that they were working on with the White Cube Gallery and the artist Cerith Wyn Evans. Robert came down to my workshop with Cerith's assistant and showed me thier 3D rendering of Cerith's design. The design itself was quite self explainitory, you're probably familiar with the inflight magazines found on most airplanes showing their flight destinations as large arcs across the globe; Cerith's idea was to reproduce all of Lufthansa'a flight paths around the globe in neon but remove the globe.
The whole sculpture was to have some 160 individual pieces of neon. 20mm Snow White tubes from Neon Products were used to allow an intense brightness combined with a degree of longevity. Aztec Modelmakers supplied full size templates for each individual section of glass allowing me to bend each neon tube to exactly the right length and diameter. Each of the neon tubes was powered by its own power supply provided by Mode Lighting. Tube lengths were kept to maximum of 6 foot with 120m/A elecrodes, allowing each power supply to produce 995 volts at 100m/A. Both tubing and electrodes were supplied by my favourite neon supplier Sign Tec Services in East Sussex. Each of the Mode power supplies was produced specially without it's casing, allowing Aztec to encase the units in beautiful, clear acrylic pods which hang suspended over the neon.

It was Aztec Modelmakers who were given the monumental job of designing the stainless steel structure which was to hold the neon tubes in place. With their considerable knowledge and understanding of engineering and metal work, Aztec produced a magnificent stainless steel frame following each of the lines of the neon and which itself is suspended from what might look to be the underside of a gigantic UFO. A work of art in itself, this huge structure caused some considerable problems as to how it was to be suspended within the glass atrium. Working closely with the architects and the engineers who constructed the building, this massive installation was eventually placed in pride of place giving motorway drivers a breif respite from thier daily grind.

You couldn't do that using LEDs.

Hot Rod Hayride 2010

Too late for this years event but put it in your diary for next year. A fantastic selection of Hotrods at this unique hotrod lifestyle event.

Here's a link to their excellent website site the Hot Rod  Hayride 2010 

light bulbs and neon