Making our way through the biting cold, we arrive to a warm welcome at X bank Amsterdam, to celebrate the opening of the first ever art exhibition by artist Cornelius. After making an impressive career in fashion for himself, Amsterdam based Cornelius has now brought forth this exhibition titled ‘LOVE IN A TIME OF NEON’, consisting of a collection of 10 neon artworks. As the title suggests, his art is inspired by true love. The neon objects are meant to trigger the mind to try and fathom the real meaning of love, representing the conscious experience of meeting the love of your life and the euphoria that fills your heart, as well as the pain caused by destructive love and heartbreak.
These objects are made for the love of my life. It took me a long time to get over this love and to give this period of heartache some closure, I decided to make this series of artworks for my exCornelius
Starting with object #1 titled ‘This is for you’ the manifestations of these feelings really shine through each of the artworks, due to the very bold and explosive choice of words used in the quotes as well as the specific font styles that have been created. The complex emotional tensions such as bliss, vulnerability, exhilaration and madness are beautifully conveyed by using these handwriting aesthetics, strengthened by their color and speed of illumination. Our favorite was the final object #10 titled ‘What an amazing human being you turned out to be’, which as a mirror to himself, reminds Cornelius that all turned out well. Aligned with messy dilapidated handwriting in blue, it forms a great contrast to the volatile passion behind other objects such as ‘Greatest fuck of all fucks, let me live forever with you’ in a fiery red color.
Cornelius developed a fascination for neon after working on former projects involving light objects within various professional fields, describing the production process to be romantic and an art form in itself. All of the objects were handmade (with love) in The Netherlands. We can’t wait to see more of his work! Five of the objects which are part of ‘LOVE IN A TIME OF NEON’ shall be on display from November 23rd until January 8th at X Bank, Spuistraat 172, Amsterdam. Check it out and feel inspired!
