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Digital pigment and silkscreen print onto 1mm aluminium. Mounted with split batten hanging device.
46 x 46 cm [18.11 x 18.11 inches]
Edition of 20, signed and numbered recto.

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About the work

Keith Sonnier’s edition for the Whitechapel Gallery takes as its starting point a drawing study for his iconic series of works Ba-O-Ba, one of the artist’s four major works on display as part of his Whitechapel Gallery exhibition, Keith Sonnier: Light Works.

Ba-O-Ba is a series of works started by Sonnier in the late 1960s, which the artist continued to work on throughout his career. Based on the Greek mathematical theory of the Golden Ratio, Sonnier combines circles and squares with geometric shapes such as aluminium bars and neon tubing. The title derives from Haitian French dialect in Louisiana for ‘bath of colour’ or ‘light bath’ and refers to the effects of the rays of light against skin.

Printed with a combination of digital-pigment and silkscreen print onto aluminium and mounted directly on the wall, this new edition typifies Sonnier’s use of industrial materials and luminous colour. Visible traces of under drawing sketch out Sonnier’s thought process, whilst dashes of neon colour sit on the surface of the work echoing the spontaneous mark making of the original drawing.

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About the artist

American sculptor Keith Sonnier (b.1941) makes three-dimensional drawings with neon, bathing spaces and bodies in the radiance of coloured light. Using industrial or everyday materials Sonnier and his contemporaries – amongst whom are Lynda Benglis, Mary Heilmann, Eva Hesse, Bruce Nauman, and Richard Serra - produced art works that demonstrated the quality of the materials used. These sculptures were often presented in dialogue with both the space in which they were shown and with the human body.

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Whitechapel Gallery editions are generously donated by the artists. All proceeds from the sale of these works directly support our exhibition and education programmes.

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