After initially experimenting with neon during his affiliation with the French artist collaborative Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel in the early 1960s, Morellet returned to the medium in the late 1970s as he was simultaneously foraying into architectural integration. He then began to utilize neon on a much larger scale and often in site-specific ways. In 1990 Morellet created 30 néons et 1 point du vue for the Abbey of Saint Philibert in Tournus, France. He later expanded this work to become No End Neon, an immersive version of the original installation in which the viewer can walk through the space. As with all his systematic works, Morellet developed responsive guidelines that continue to be followed, adapting the work to each new location. Seen at Dia:Beacon, No End Neon is the largest version of this system to date with a total of sixty-one tubes. The expansive installation—gifted to Dia by the Morellet family and Blain Southern, London and Berlin—allows visitors to encounter Morellet’s practice alongside major installations of work by his American and European peers represented in Dia’s permanent collection.

François Morellet on view at Dia:Chelsea

François Morellet was born in Cholet, France, in 1926. He died in Cholet in 2016.

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