Cerith Wyn Evans is a conceptual artist, sculptor, and filmmaker born in 1958 in Llanelli, Wales. He studied at Saint Martin’s School of Art and later at the Royal College of Art in London under the guidance of John Stezaker.

In the 1980s, Wyn Evans began his career as a director of experimental films and music videos, collaborating with artists such as The Smiths and Throbbing Gristle. Toward the end of the decade, he expanded his practice to include sculpture, installations, and photography, working with diverse materials such as fireworks, chandeliers, neon lights, and plants.

His works have been exhibited in major international museums and galleries, including Tate Britain, the Venice Biennale, Documenta in Kassel, and the MIT Visual Arts Center in Boston. In 2018, he won the prestigious Hepworth Prize for Sculpture.

Wyn Evans’s art deeply explores the themes of communication, perception, and transformation. His work focuses on the idea of the elasticity of experience, seeking to create pieces that transform the viewer’s perception through the use of light, sound, and language.

He is known for breaking away from traditional forms of communication, opening paths to original and often unexpected expressions that are profoundly influenced by literature, music, and philosophy. His light installations—such as chandeliers and neon works—are not only visually captivating but also convey complex messages through codes like Morse.

…the illuminating Gas [october – february2020] Milan

The exhibition titled “…the Illuminating Gas” was held in Milan from October 31, 2019, to July 26, 2020. It was the largest exhibition ever dedicated to the artist, presenting a selection of twenty-four works, including historical sculptures, monumental installations, and new productions such as:

“Forms in Space…by Light (in Time)” (2017) – A configuration of neon lights creating a choreography of forms in space;

“StarStarStar/Steer (totransversephoton)” (2019) – A work created specifically for the exhibition, using light and shadow to transform the exhibition space;

“Neon Forms (after Noh)” (2015–2019) – A series of neon sculptures inspired by the gestures of Japanese Noh theatre;

“Firework Texts” – Installations that use fireworks to create luminous texts.

The exhibition was conceived as a harmonic composition of light, energy, and sound, offering visitors a unique synesthetic experience. Wyn Evans’s works explore perception, language, and communication, employing ephemeral materials such as light and sound. Among the pieces on display were installations that transformed the exhibition space into a complex and evocative scenography, inspired by fields such as literature, music, philosophy, and science.

The exhibition path opened with seven towering light columns rising nearly to the ceiling, filling the space with a complex sequence of illuminations. The work “StarStarStar/Steer” consists of numerous LED lamps arranged to form cylinders of various heights, resembling a musical score, where the columns light up alternately in a rhythmic pulse. This luminous impulse reveals and conceals the structure itself, intensifying and then slowly fading. Each column lights up independently, shifting from a state of translucence to one of blinding luminosity that makes the work almost impossible to look at. As the light gradually dims, the columns become transparent, allowing viewers to glimpse the materials composing them—wires, transmitters, LEDs, and the metal framework supporting each element.

In its earlier versions, the work was created using incandescent lamps, which are no longer produced, thus indirectly bearing witness to how contemporary society creates objects that are inherently obsolescent.