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Art's a Trip. Free Metro Rail Tour

Pershing Square Station

Neons for Pershing Square, 1993
Stephen Antonakos, artist

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In 1924 the first neon sign in the United States was posted around the corner from Pershing Square. Commemorating this art form, neon artist Antonakos created Neons for Pershing Square, a series of neon sculptures suspended from the station's high ceiling. The twelve sculptures, with their imaginative shapes and bright colors, create an exciting, lively atmosphere in this modern station. This project received a Best of Downtown award from the Downtown News in 1994.

"The neons are meant to be seen each for themselves, in combinations and as a total group. The forms are open, allowing architectural elements to be seen through them. This means that not only the columns, the ceiling and the walls, but the space all around them is brought into the experience of the art."

STEPHEN ANTONAKOS was born in Greece and immigrated to the US shortly after. Antonakos began exhibiting his work in the late 1950s and ten years later began working with neon. Since concentrating on neon works, he has exhibited his work in museums and galleries in this country and abroad. Public neon sculptures by Antonakos can be found in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Tacoma, Denver, Amherst, and Atlanta.