The QUEER|ART ARTIST EDITION is an annual neon sculpture commission, celebrating the work of contemporary artists in our community while paying homage to the queer trailblazers who came before them.

Each year, Queer|Art commissions an artist in our growing community to create a neon sculpture that honors a queer icon of their choosing. To produce the work, the selected artist collaborates closely with Lite Brite Neon Studio, a New York-based fabrication studio specializing in artist collaborations, commercial installations, and custom lighting designs. Now in its second year, proceeds from the edition provide direct support to Queer|Art artists and our extended community.

Queer artists have long mobilized the evocative qualities of neon to shed light on overlooked narratives and expand their practice in innovative ways. 2024 QAM Mentor Demian DinéYazhi ́, 2019 QA Prize Finalist Ja’Tovia Gary, 2023 Illuminations Grant Judge Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo), 2011-2012 QAM Mentor Deb Kass, and 2023 Robert Giard Grant Judge Benjy Russell are just a few of the creatives pushing the medium’s boundaries. The Queer|Art Artist Edition seeks to continue this legacy of queer light-sculpting, all while raising funds for a positive cause.

2026 COMMISSION: AVRAM FINKELSTEIN

The 2026 Queer|Art Artist Edition was granted to multi-year Queer|Art|Mentorship Mentor Avram Finkelstein.

FRANKENSTEIN, Avram Finkelstein’s new work, is a screen print on acrylic depicting the artist’s own rendering of his neuromuscular disease, backlit by a glowing neon in the shape of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, a traditional visualization of the human soul. The piece reckons with the body as the defining matrix of identity. “The body is also the unavoidable core around which all forms of displacement are organized, from gender to gentrification, from forced migration to racial reckoning,” Finkelstein says. “So how do we represent a thing that’s simultaneously universal yet also specific? Other than reflecting ourselves as objects for consumption, what actually is representation, and who is it for?”

In search of an answer, Finkelstein turns to the classic Frankenstein story, inspired by the older myth of the golem. In Jewish Hermetic Mysticism, the golem is a being formed from clay to provide protection, and becomes an avenger when it misreads its own directive. “The golem is a metaphor for both weakness and power,” Finkelstein explains. “Since my disobedient body is increasingly beyond my control, I wanted to depict this form of uncertainty, to perform disability.” Seen as a whole, FRANKENSTEIN ultimately asks what the soul owes a body that no longer answers to it.

This work is selling for $15,000 ($7,500 of the purchase cost is fully tax deductible). 100% of proceeds benefit Queer|Art and Lite Brite Neon Studio. Only five editions + 3 artist proof’s were created; to inquire about purchasing an edition, contact Río Sofia (rsofia@queer-art.org.)

ABOUT LITE BRITE NEON STUDIO

Lite Brite Neon Studio is a collective of craftspeople that specializes in the production of neon art, display, luminous visual props and architectural lighting through a collaborative approach. They seek to transform and transmit the power of light art and display as a viable medium to convey the mystical truths that surround us in everyday life. Their work has graced the facade of the Venice Biennale; appeared on the cover of the New York Times, Artforum, and Print Magazine; in the windows of MoMa, Tiffany & Co., and Bergdorf Goodman's; and can be found in museums, galleries, and other visual displays worldwide. They also serve as a resource for the preservation and restoration of historic neon art and displays for many private and public collections including the Dia Center for the Arts, MoMa, and the Whitney Museum of Art.

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