Jim Kempner Fine Art is pleased to announce the exhibition, Stephen Antonakos: Here and Beyond, which will open on September 18th and continue through October 25th. Known since the 1960’s for his transformative use of neon in sculpture, Antonakos, through the decades, has similarly advanced the formal possibilities of abstract geometry with his drawings. The exhibition will feature a selection of works on paper, two neon panels, and a large outdoor neon installation made specifically for the show. There will be an opening reception for the artist on Thursday, September 18th from 6-8 pm.

By employing a vocabulary of complete and incomplete circles, squares, cubes and lines and carefully orchestrating vibrant colors, Stephen Antonakos imbues his neon environments with physical and poetic qualities that actively engage the spectator.

The new 13’ Red Neon Incomplete Square installed in the corner wall of the gallery courtyard, typifies the artist’s deft, spare use of incomplete geometric forms. The implied square may be completed in the viewer’s mind as extending above and beyond its physical nature. Meant to be seen from diverse angles and distances, the sculpture will be modified by the gradual decrease of natural light during the transitional hours of evening.

This major installation will be complemented by two of Antonakos’s square panels with neon, Sky of Jerusalem from 1989 and In the Beginning from 1999 – along with rare drawings on paper from the mid-1970s and drawings on French vellum from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s.

Stephen Antonakos: Here and Beyond continues at David Krut Projects, 526 West 26th Street, #816, opening on Wednesday, September 17th, with the artist’s most recent neon panels and drawings presented along with rarely seen earlier works. “antonakos: 151 images and an essay” -- a new, hand-sized, David Krut Publication printed in cooperation with Jim Kempner Fine Art -- will be available at both galleries. It contains reproductions of the neons and drawings in both exhibitions, a selection of related images from over decades of work, and a new essay by Nathan Kernan.

Coinciding with both exhibitions is Stephen Antonakos: Retrospective, a 50-year survey of Antonakos’s neon, drawings and collages, at the Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania from September 28th through January 11th, 2009.

For further information and visuals, please contact the gallery.