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As Ratbun was making the neon collages, he reviewed a number of important concepts in his mind-- for instance the idea that the medium is more important than any implied message. He says he was primarily engaged with the application and visual effect of the materials-- engrossed in the color, texture, the harmony and dissonance of those materials (wood, glass, paper, paint) and elements such as light, shadow, and form.

But an artist cannot hide from the emotions, memories, and ideas which are dominant in his life. Nor should he try to do so. In the end it is IDEA which breathes meaning into the lush, brilliant, dramatic forms which he creates-- whether it comes up bidden or unbidden.
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BELOW: MAPLE TOWER, a free-standing sculpture, 84 x 32 x 12 inches: made of wood, paint, glass, paper, artifacts, and neon tubing;

a soaring piece suggesting the brilliance and impermanence of nature and the fragility of what is lost to the agressive expansion of civilization
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO REVIEW ENTIRE COLLECTION TO DATE...WITH DETAILS AND PRICING... and return frequently, sas this collection is being actively expanded as you read these pages.
Good Times and Ba
AT LEFT, and ABOVE: GOOD TIMES AND BAD: an autobiographical meditation on growing up during times of war and peace; the family disrupted by absence, a child distracted by the conflicts of hero-worship and anxiety for family members... wall-hanging, 32 x 40 x 5 inches
Notes on Neon by William Rathbun, Sept. 22, 2002:
"Several years ago I saw a collection of paper models for sculptures by Picasso. They were fragile, discolored... these delicate three-dimensional documents had endured the battering of time and nature's elements by the strength and truth of their simple existence-- like the wings of butterflies. They spoke to something in me. I had the same response to the sculptures of Nevelson and Duchamp.

"These works defy the notion that art must be beautiful, functional, or decorative. Those artists did not need to use message- making for their work to have significance. Their use of materials gave their work a kind of temporal integrity. In this sense they are more like music than they are like traditional painting or sculpture."
SundownABOVE: SUNDOWN (early piece no longer available)
Rathbun states:

"Although many of the objects and images used in these collages are loaded with literal content and are unavoidably symbolic, as well as being deliberately cliche', my main intention is to have the overall work stand on its own.

"I want to use the juxtaposition of imagery and textural materials with neon to get an emotional and psychological result. Their fragile and temporal qualities are very intentional.

"Although some of their design elements may seem random, most aspects of these collages are considered and deliberate."
ABOVE: EVERGREEN, free-standing metal and neon glass sculpture, 144" x 40" x 24".

AT LEFT: Detail of a sculpture in progress

BELOW: INDIAN HEAD, the "core image" of a work which has been "in process" for several years
Rathbun describes the process: "The works all have something in common.
They begin with amorphus thoughts stimulated by an object or image I come across that strikes me as poignant or just interesting... It may be a decorative texture, or a socially pertinent image, or
a personally attractive material. I start putting things together ...without much conscious regard for commentary or message- making ... it's somewhat like a
kid building a tree house with old lumber and rusty nails so he can hide out there and see great distances, inward or out.

HUNTING SEASON, 32 x 41 x 6” ;  Begun in 2002, completed 2008; Made of:  Found and constructed artifacts, wood, board, glass, paint, plastic, glass, metal and neon tubing.

 A piece suggesting both joy and outrage: the crisp fall day in a forest blazing with beauty, the grace and peace of a wandering beast, the shot that kills, the footprint left behind.

BELOW: HUNTING SEASON, and Detail

...or click here for Rathbun non-neon art: