The Mind Sees a Color that Is Not Here 1972

Ron Cooper made this neon artwork to say, ‘The mind sees a color that is not here’. I really sympathize with the artist here. He gets it! It’s like he pulled this idea right out of my brain. I think it’s about how our minds are always adding things to what we see, interpreting, and transforming visual information. It's fascinating to think about color as something more than just a physical property. The text is lit with a gentle, cool, green glow. It reminds me of the kind of signs you'd see in old diners or motels, but instead of advertising something, it makes you think. He's messing with our perception, making us question what is real and what is imagined, and playing with the boundary between language and light. Artists are always riffing off each other and finding inspiration in unexpected places. Cooper's neon work is an interesting intersection between sculpture, language, and light. It brings to mind the work of other artists who use language in their art, like Ed Ruscha or Bruce Nauman. But it takes it into a different space, inviting us to explore the subjective nature of perception.