Light

“Throughout her neon works, literal and metaphorical illumination converge, as Coit pushes through puns, wordplay, and syntactical dances that ultimately deliver a form of deeper consciousness along with spiritual enlightenment.” - Jennie Hirsh, from “Before and After Language: The Art of Madelin Coit”

With “Not See,” Coit points out the cultural tendency to overlook events or statements because they are too frightening to acknowledge; we don’t want to believe they are real. “If I ignore it, it’ll go away.” This is not a new human tendency, but the events of this time have made it an increasingly glaring and present danger.

“Abgeschleppt” is a play on words–especially in translation–as well as a play on actions.  The German word for ‘tow-away zone’ (as in No Parking) also has a slang meaning: “to get carried away” – as in having casual sex with a stranger.

For “Here You Are, Are You Here, You Are Here,” Coit created a programmed light projection that would alternately flash the title phrases on a dark museum wall, one at a time. Museums use tools such as maps and directional signage to orient visitors within the space, and “Here You Are…” reflects a visitor’s disorientation upon arriving at a seeming dead end in the building, anticipating the museum-goers’ question, “Where am I?” with a playfully ambiguous response.

In another of her neon pieces, “Relative Stranger,” the oxymoron carries an additional level of metaphor: the word “relative” is warm in color and “stranger” is cold, but these roles can exchange places psychologically; sometimes your relatives are strangers, or you may feel closer to strangers than your relatives.