All posts tagged: Neon Saltwater

Neon Saltwater Drenched a Gas Station in Neon Las Vegas; “Cherry Lake”

Neon Saltwater Drenched a Gas Station in Neon Las Vegas; “Cherry Lake”

Seattle-based digital artist and color virtuoso Abigail Dougherty, known in the art world as Neon Saltwater, recently unveiled her latest installation in Downtown Las Vegas, an eye-popping spectacle you can appreciate in the images here. Located on bustling East Fremont Street, the “Cherry Lake” project transforms a once-abandoned garage into a vibrant, chromatic fantasy. Curated by the innovative group Justkids, this installation signifies a notable shift from Dougherty’s well-known digital realms to a tangible, immersive experience.

Neon Saltwater, celebrated for her ethereal digital landscapes featuring neon-drenched rooms and malls, has translated her unique aesthetic into the physical world. The installation, infused with a futuristic flair and a touch of Y2K nostalgia, offers a multi-era experience. It envelopes the entire building in a kaleidoscopic gradient, accentuated by large digital renderings and neon lights, reminiscent of the slick, optimistic urbanism found on album covers in the stylized 70s and 80s. Inside, visitors are immersed in a dream-like space where silhouettes of floating balloons glow under a haunting red light, creating an atmosphere filled with mystery and longing.

“The familiar structure of Cherry Lake is sharply contrasted by intense colors, lighting, and candy-like text, reflecting the excess and fantasy that form my vision of Las Vegas,” Dougherty explains.

Neon Saltwater. Cherry Lake. In collaboration with Justkids. Life Is Beautiful Festival. Las Vegas, 2023. (photo © Paul Citone)

This extensive installation, a standout feature of the recent Life is Beautiful Festival, pays homage to the dual nature of Las Vegas – its allure and its disappointments. Justkids’ Curator and Director Charlotte Dutoit comments, “Neon Saltwater’s creation captures the fabulous and the eerie, the futuristic and the nostalgic. Abby’s world blurs the lines between time and reality, taking viewers on an emotional journey through a beautifully hazy, melancholic, and peculiar landscape.”

Neon Saltwater. Cherry Lake. In collaboration with Justkids. Life Is Beautiful Festival. Las Vegas, 2023. (photo © Justkids)

Discussing her creative process, Dougherty likens her approach to that of a realist painter or photographer, creating images from scratch to depict non-existent spaces. “I intertwine neon light and color with mundane architectural elements, crafting a surreal yet believable environment,” she remarks. Reflecting on the inspiration behind “Cherry Lake,” she muses on the paradoxical nature of Las Vegas, a city teeming with high hopes and letdowns – recurrent themes in her work. The installation presents an ironic take on the city’s iconic imagery, set against the backdrop of a quaint small-town gas station.

Is “Cherry Lake” a sensory expedition into the heart of urban fantasy? It also depicts emotional contrasts, offering a unique lens through which to view the complexities of the urban landscape.

Neon Saltwater. Cherry Lake. In collaboration with Justkids. Life Is Beautiful Festival. Las Vegas, 2023. (photo © Justkids)
Neon Saltwater. Cherry Lake. In collaboration with Justkids. Life Is Beautiful Festival. Las Vegas, 2023. (photo © Justkids)
Neon Saltwater. Cherry Lake. In collaboration with Justkids. Life Is Beautiful Festival. Las Vegas, 2023. (photo © Justkids)
Read more
Neon Saltwater Imagines a 1990 Oasis In Las Vegas

Neon Saltwater Imagines a 1990 Oasis In Las Vegas

Neon Saltwater has that star-washed, sun-kissed aura about her visage and throughout her public/digital space installations. You remember 1990, don’t you? Ex-CIA chief George Bush was president, Sinead O’Conner was singing Prince, Digital Underground was doing the Humpty Dance, and light artist Dan Flavin was releasing his untitled series of tinted fluorescent sculptures for Otto Freundlich.

Neon Saltwater. “Mystery Cruise 1990” in collaboration with Just Kids. Las Vegas, Nevada. November 2022. (photo © Just Kids)

Those glowing waves of light, relaxed and dispersed evenly across a room, appeared at least to be possibly on a continuum into space. The interior designer/metaverse designer from Seattle brings that backlit frosted ambiance to her spaces here in Las Vegas – the inside and outside are eclipsed by one another. A rendered architectural yet trippy fog emanates from the mind of Abby Dougherty, who we’re guessing was born in 1990, a year after Taylor Swift, and clearly in another world. A world and a persona she calls Neon Saltwater.

Neon Saltwater. “Mystery Cruise 1990” in collaboration with Just Kids. Las Vegas, Nevada. November 2022. (photo © Just Kids)

Here in the neon-washed city of sin, the artist is “physically manifesting Mystery Cruise 1990, an exclusive digital rendering space with dreamy colors, neon lights, and spooky ‘90s vibes,” says Justkids curator and director Charlotte Dutoit – who brought this project to fruition. She says the multi-dimensional real-world public show is more than digital or physical – an immersive piece that “is almost like a paranormal experience – and so satisfying.”

Neon Saltwater. “Mystery Cruise 1990” in collaboration with Just Kids. Las Vegas, Nevada. November 2022. (photo © Just Kids)

Created for the “Life is Beautiful Festival,” Saltwater returns to an imagined Las Vegas in 1990. It invokes a seedy, smokey, hip echo of a tourist attraction that was on the decline at that time: later to be Disneyfied, sanitized, and clogged with Crocks and bachelorette parties.

Looking at the installation you are now awash in an adopted nostalgia, awesome sunsets, and perhaps a couple of episodes of the Love Boat and Stranger Things. It is a decidedly new glowing energy that suddenly radiates from – and envelops – this Mystery Cruise.

Neon Saltwater. “Mystery Cruise 1990” in collaboration with Just Kids. Las Vegas, Nevada. November 2022. (photo © Just Kids)
Neon Saltwater. “Mystery Cruise 1990” in collaboration with Just Kids. Las Vegas, Nevada. November 2022. (photo © Just Kids)
Neon Saltwater. “Mystery Cruise 1990” in collaboration with Just Kids. Las Vegas, Nevada. November 2022. (photo © Just Kids)
Neon Saltwater. “Mystery Cruise 1990” in collaboration with Just Kids. Las Vegas, Nevada. November 2022. (photo © Just Kids)
Neon Saltwater. “Mystery Cruise 1990” in collaboration with Just Kids. Las Vegas, Nevada. November 2022. (photo © Just Kids)
Read more