Untitled 2004

This untitled piece by Jason Rhoades is like a three-dimensional word cloud, hanging in space, made with neon lights. The whole thing shimmers with energy. Think of it as mark-making in the air, a process of illuminating thoughts. What strikes me is how Rhoades treats language as raw material. Each word glows with its own color. I can see “Midnight,” “Beef,” and “Notorious” flickering, but it’s the way he clusters these phrases that makes them sing. The neon tubes aren’t perfect; they wobble and stutter, but that's part of the charm. It’s as if the words are buzzing with their own internal electricity. This tangled web, full of words feels so visceral and immediate. Rhoades reminds me a little of Bruce Nauman, they both share that love of language. But while Nauman can be a bit colder, Rhoades is all-in, chaotic, and buzzing with life. He embraces ambiguity, letting the phrases float and collide, creating a space of pure, unadulterated energy.