Keith Sonnier, “Portals”

Sonnier was a pioneer of late-’60s-to-early-’70s Postminimalism, a rubric that covered a wide range of artists breaking away from the clean lines of Pop and Minimal Art for a practice that challenged the conventional definition of art objects and the gallery spaces that exhibited them. The movement ushered in Earthworks, installation pieces, performance, and Process, Scatter and Conceptual Art. Sonnier was primarily interested in exploring the properties of light and color, and to that end, he adopted neon as his signature medium, using it like lines drawn in space. His latest reliefs continue in a similar vein and play on the theme of portals, which in this case could mean doorways or bodily orifices. Some of the works contain hints of sexual double entendre within otherwise abstract pieces.