Artwork Details
- Title
- Neons for Buttonwood
- Artist
- Stephen Antonakas (1926-2013)
- Year
- 1990
- Location
- 20th and Hamilton Streets
- Medium
- Neon with metal raceways
Artwork Description
Geometric shapes and lines course along the top of the CityView Condominiums. Neons for Buttonwood was created as part of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art Program in two segments – one facing south, the other east. Strong contrasting neon tubes in red, green, yellow, and blue were placed at varying depths, with some on raceways of a different color. When lit, the sculpture seems to change depending on the viewer’s position and the time of day. One yellow tube on the south facade is actually hidden from direct view, appearing only as a soft diagonal stripe reflected off the building.
After illuminating the Benjamin Franklin Parkway since 1990, Neons for Buttonwood went dark in 2015. The ReLight the Sky Committee, with permission from the Antonakos family and the artist’s estate, is working to restore and relight the sculpture using energy-efficient LED technology.
About the Artist
Stephen Antonakos was an internationally recognized artist and pioneer in the use of neon as an artistic medium. Born in Greece, he moved to New York as a child and lived and worked there throughout his career. Antonakos created dozens of large-scale permanent public artworks for sites in the United States, Europe, and Japan. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.