Project

OFF // On Exhibit

OFF//ON: a large-scale outdoor neon and mixed-media exhibition at the Hollywood Palladium, curated by Dani Bonnet in partnership with Pabst Blue Ribbon and the Museum of Neon Art, 15 Los Angeles artists, safely staged outdoors during COVID. In May 2021, Dani Bonnet curated OFF//ON, a large-scale neon and mixed-media exhibition staged on the window front of the historic Hollywood Palladium on Sunset Blvd., presented in partnership with Pabst Blue Ribbon, with support from the Museum of Neon Art. Free and open to the public, the show ran outdoors for a full week, letting visitors experience original neon and interactive art at a safe distance, in open air, during a period when indoor gatherings still weren't possible.

Born from a Fallout Budget

OFF//ON exists because of luck. Pabst Blue Ribbon had a marketing budget set aside for live events that COVID made impossible to run, and instead of shelving it they funded a curated outdoor art exhibition. Dani Bonnet took the concept and the execution. The show turned into a rare chance to pay a roster of working Los Angeles artists at a moment when almost no creative work was moving.

Curating a 15-Artist Lineup

As curator, Dani Bonnet assembled and directed a lineup of 15 Los Angeles-based artists across two disciplines, presenting new work made specifically for the show:

Neon: Michael Flechtner, Roxy Rose, Jess Krichelle, Brooke Barttelbort, Lauren Bennett, Leticia Maldonado, and Dani Bonnet (curator)

Mixed Media: Yai Vila, Lauren Griffin, Ronthekiller, Kim Kyne, Ali Oksner, Elizabeth Moroni, Alicja Polachek, and Jonny Alexander

With support from the Museum of Neon Art and the Eyejack AR team, the exhibition combined hand-bent glass neon with augmented reality and mixed-media installations, work built around a shared theme: what it means to switch expressive culture back on after a year in the dark.

Press Coverage

OFF//ON drew coverage ahead of and during its run, including a feature in the LA Daily News previewing the show, and coverage from Time Out Los Angeles, which highlighted several individual pieces from the lineup, including a neon cowboy portrait, a Vegas showgirl, and a motion-triggered wilderness scene, as a rare bit of in-person art and light during a moment when live culture in Los Angeles had been almost entirely dark for a year.

A Moment to Reopen, Illuminated

Hollywood was just starting to picture what reopening might look like, and neon gave that idea a literal form: the act of flipping something back on. Fifteen artists worked the theme across the Palladium's window front on Sunset Boulevard, turning a marquee built for concerts into a public gallery for a week.

Why This Project Matters

OFF//ON is one of Dani Bonnet's most significant curatorial projects: full creative direction of a brand-backed public exhibition, fifteen artists assembled and paid during one of the hardest stretches in recent memory, and a national brand that trusted the vision completely. Conceiving, staffing and delivering a public art event takes a different muscle than fabrication, and this one proved it.

Curator: Dani Bonnet
Presented by: Pabst Blue Ribbon
Support: Museum of Neon Art, Eyejack AR Team
Venue: Hollywood Palladium window front, Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles
Dates: May 21–28, 2021

Each tube in the exhibit was hand-formed through our custom glass neon fabrication process.

Custom neon built for brands, productions, galleries and private collectors across Los Angeles.

Vans x Dani Bonnet

A fully creative commission for Vans' "Off the Wall" campaign, Neon Flamingo's Dani Bonnet was given complete artistic freedom and a real production budget the moment COVID hit, resulting in "Electric American Eagle," a piece featured across national press and Vans' own campaign materials. Neon Flamingo's Dani Bonnet was commissioned by Vans for their "Off the Wall" creator campaign, a program built to fund artists working across a range of creative disciplines. The result was Electric American Eagle, an original neon sculpture combining the American bald eagle with wads of cash, built as commentary on money, power, and freedom in America.

Electric Winter

Electric Winter: Dani Bonnet's first curated art show, presented with Pabst Blue Ribbon at Innerspace Gallery in winter 2019, a sold-out night with a line around the block, a DJ set from Jerry Paper, and a full lineup of LA neon and mixed-media artists. In winter 2019, Dani Bonnet curated Electric Winter, a neon and mixed-media art exhibition presented in partnership with Pabst Blue Ribbon at Innerspace Gallery in Los Angeles. It was Dani's first time curating a show from the ground up, and the response exceeded anything anyone expected: a line stretched around the block to get in.

Bad Roman Lighting Design

A restaurant-wide commercial lighting commission for Bad Roman's Beverly Hills flagship, eight sculptural LED chandeliers, a signature illuminated centerpiece, and eight hand-blown helium neon sconces, delivered on an accelerated timeline other fabricators couldn't meet. Featured in Dezeen, Hospitality Design, and TrendHunter. Neon Flamingo was commissioned to design and fabricate the complete lighting program for Bad Roman's Beverly Hills flagship, a restaurant-wide build spanning sculptural chandeliers, a signature illuminated centerpiece, and hand-blown glass neon wall sconces, developed in close collaboration with GRT Architects, the Brooklyn-based studio behind the restaurant's interior design. The 3,570-square-foot space, occupying the former Palm Steakhouse site on North Canon Drive, has been widely covered as one of the most talked-about restaurant openings of the year, with the lighting singled out as central to the room's atmosphere.

The 818 Tucson Neon Sign Bookshelf Commission

Neon Flamingo designed and fabricated a sculptural bookshelf with a vintage roadside neon sign look for The 818, a 165-unit luxury student housing development near the University of Arizona, commissioned through Seattle-based art consultancy Parade Art.

Puma & Rose Speedcat Neon Sign

A freestanding 10-foot by 12-foot neon sign built in 2.5 weeks for Puma's Speedcat campaign with Blackpink's Rosé, engineered to withstand extreme desert winds, hand-aged to look sun-worn, and later installed again in Las Vegas for the F1 race weekend. Neon Flamingo designed, engineered, and fabricated a freestanding, roadside-style neon sign for Puma's Speedcat campaign, starring Blackpink's Rosé. The brief: a 10-foot-wide, 12-foot-tall freestanding sign, built to look like it had been standing in the California desert for decades, on a turnaround of roughly two and a half weeks. It became one of the largest and most technically demanding pieces Neon Flamingo has ever built, and one of the proudest.

Fine Artist Commissions

Neon Flamingo fabricates neon works for working fine artists, translating gallery and museum-bound concepts into precisely executed glass and light, for artists including Young Joon Kwak, noé olivas, Nathan Cheung, and Emanuel Hahn. Alongside commercial signage, film production pieces, and brand installations, Neon Flamingo fabricates neon artworks for working fine artists, translating a gallery or museum concept into precisely bent glass and controlled light. This is a distinct kind of collaboration, built around an artist's own vision rather than a business brief, and it's some of the most rewarding work the studio takes on.

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