Mary Weatherford
Ruby
2019
Flashe and neon on linen, 223.52 x 147.32 cm
Mary Weatherford (b. 1963, Ojai, California) currently works and lives in Los Angeles. Weatherford studied Art and Art History in Princeton University and pursued an MFA at Bard College. Her influences included artists such as Mark Rothko (1903-1970) and Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) in her use of ready-made neons and a deep interest in the emotionality of colour.
Ruby shows the perfect combination of Weatherford’s influences, with a bright ready-made neon light that rests against a background of rich and expansive colour. Weatherfords’ choice of colour is also inspired by her Californian background, evoking the natural landscapes of the city that are combined with a neon to highlight the neon signs within urban areas.
"Every color hits an emotional note. But the note, the color with another color next to it, then makes a chord. So you can have a major chord or a minor chord or a seventh chord or—you know the famous Leonard Cohen song, “Hallelujah”?
I think everybody loves that so much because he’s demonstrating what going through that chord progression feels like. So when I’m making a painting, what I’m doing is demonstrating what the chord progression feels like."