Stephen Antonakos: Project Drawings

Learn more about the artist’s drawings in this excerpt from a press release about a recent exhibition at Bookstein Projects in New York City.

Since it was possible to realize only a few of his great rush of ideas in full-scale neon, Antonakos made exquisite intricate scale models – dozens of them. Even this was too slow a practice to capture the many urgent images flooding his mind. Only drawing rapidly in graphite and colored pencil would enable him to capture the great sequence of individual compositions that document the formal evolution of his neon work from 1965 to 1973.

At first, we see vivid images for neon geometries on bases, with impatient notes and questions written to the side of the image. These soon developed into proposals defined by their walls, inside and outside corners, and other architectural configurations. These become increasingly declarative, especially as to the importance of placement — the definitive relationship between the work and the site.

Sometimes many drawings were made in a single day or through a sequence of days. Often these motifs become increasingly spare, sheet after sheet. At other times, there was just a single manifestation of a formal idea. The series continued with the same energy and invention for 8 ½ years. As Antonakos said, “Only drawing can keep up with your mind.”

Stephen Antonakos: Project Drawings is organized by the Neuberger Museum and curated by Avis Larson, Assistant Curator. Generous support for this project is provided by the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art.

The drawings are a gift from the Stephen Antonakos Studio, LLC to the Neuberger Museum of Art in honor of Susan and Jim Dubin, Tony Maddalena, Helen Stambler Neuberger and Jim Neuberger, Stacey Oestreich, Yale Paprin, Bonnie and Bob Romano, Lucille Werlinich, and Ava and Paul Zukowsky in appreciation of their generous support for the 2021 conservation and reinstallation of Stephen Antonakos’ Neon Lintel, 1997.

On Friday evening, August 27, 2021, members of the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art Board of Directors, Mrs. Naomi Antonakos, museum staff, and special friends gathered outside the museum to celebrate the reinstallation of one of our beloved site-specific works, Neon Lintel, by Stephen Antonakos.

Inside the museum, a new exhibition entitled Stephen Antonakos: Project Drawings had been recently installed. The show is a collection of eight graphite and colored pencil drawings created by the artist to capture his ideas for new works.

Watch this video from the event to hear remarks from Museum Director Tracy Fitzpatrick; thoughts from the artist’s friend, Joseph Giovannini; and a conversation between Giovannini and the artist’s widow, Naomi Antonakos.

The striking Neon Lintel was brilliant to see as the day faded through dusk into night.