VICTOR EHIKHAMENOR SELECTED NEON MUSEUM’S 2020 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

L: Neon Museum 2020 National Artist in Residence, Victor Ehikhamenor and R: The Prayer Room, Dak’ Art Biennale, Dakar, Senegal (2016)

VICTOR EHIKHAMENOR SELECTED AS THE NEON MUSEUM’S 2020 NATIONAL
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

LAS VEGAS (June 2020) – The Neon Museum proudly announces the selection of Victor Ehikhamenor as its 2020 National Artist in Residence. Ehikhamenor was selected out of a pool of 110 applicants and will join The Neon Museum for eight weeks this fall to create artwork inspired by the museum’s collection.

During his residency at The Neon Museum, Ehikamenor will reference the assortment of iconic Las Vegas signs in the museum’s exhibitions and archive, as well as collaborate with members of the Las Vegas community, collecting poems, statements, and short stories. These will be interpreted through large-scale drawings and interwoven into sculpture and installation work, incorporating the medium of neon.

Ehikamenor’s residency will take place from October 26 to December 18 and will encompass several opportunities for public engagement to benefit Southern Nevada residents and museum visitors. The full residency programming schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Victor Ehikhamenor is a Nigerian-American artist, photographer and writer. He has been prolific in producing abstract, symbolic and politically motivated works. A 2016 Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow, Ehikhamenor was one of three artists to represent Nigeria at the first Nigerian Pavilion in the 57^th Venice Biennale in 2017. His work has been featured in numerous biennales, including the 5th Mediations Biennale in Poznan, Poland (2016) and the Biennale Jogja XIII, Indonesia (2015), and exhibited in London, Lagos and Washington D.C. Throughout his career, Ehikhamenor has maintained an interest in signs, symbols and language. The patterning that defines his work is a form of gestural abstraction reminiscent of written language.

As a writer, he has published both fiction and critical essays with academic journals, mainstream magazines and newspapers around the world including New York Times, BBC, CNN Online, Washington Post, AGNI and Wasafiri. He is the founder of Angels and Muse, a thought laboratory dedicated to the promotion and development of contemporary African art. In 2013, Ehikhamenor collaborated with Nigerian fashion designer Ituen Basi to create the Ekemini collection which has been featured in Vogue Italia, and the Mercedes-Benz Fashion show. Ehikhamenor received his MFA from the University of Maryland, College Park. He maintains a studio in Lagos, Nigeria and Upper Marlboro, Maryland. http://victorehi.com

ABOUT THE NEON MUSEUM
Founded in 1996, the Neon Museum is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts and cultural enrichment. It has been named “Best Museum” by Las Vegas Weekly, one of “Sin City’s Best Retro Sites” by MSN, “No. 1 Las Vegas Museum Sure to Entertain and Educate” by USAToday’s 10best.com, “One of the Top 10 Coolest Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do” by Forbes.com, one of the “Top 10 Historic Spots in Las Vegas” by Vegas.com; one of “15 Most Fascinating Museums in the U.S.” by VacationIdea.com; and earns a consistent 4.5 out of 5 rating on TripAdvisor. On its 2.27-acre campus, the Neon Museum houses an outdoor exhibition space known as the Neon Boneyard (“boneyard” is traditionally the name for an area where items no longer in use are stored); the North Gallery, home to the nighttime augmented-reality, audiovisual spectacle, “Brilliant!”; the Boulevard Gallery outdoor exhibit and event space; and its visitors’ center, housed inside the former La Concha Motel lobby. The museum collection also includes nine restored signs installed as public art throughout downtown Las Vegas. Public education, outreach, research, archival preservation and a grant-funded neon sign survey represent a selection of the museum’s ongoing projects. Both the Neon Boneyard and the La Concha Visitors’ Center are located at 770 Las Vegas Blvd. North in Las Vegas. Click here for tour schedules and pricing information. Follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Vanessa Thill/Erika Pope
The Vox Agency
vanessa@thevoxagency.com,  erika@thevoxagency.com
(469) 226-4723, (702) 249-2977

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