#kharacloutier

[kharacloutier]

Khara Cloutier

Artsy Fartsy

2023

Matte black plexi, Tecnolux saffron tubes with argon and mercury.

12" x 39.5" x 3"

Cloutier incorporates words and popular sayings into her art to convey metaphor, humor and identity in unexpected ways. “Artsy-fartsy” is a reduplicative phrase made up of the slang term artsy, or showing artistic talent, and the word fart, which, in addition to meaning an expulsion of gas, can also mean a foolish or contemptible person. By animating the text in neon, Cloutier has created a visual pun that shifts its meaning in real-time. Her rendering in Art Nouveau lettering adds another layer to its subtext and ultimate expression.

#kharacloutier #lettering #neon #neonart #neonartist #neonartwork #typography #art nouveau #artsy fartsy

[kharacloutier]

Khara Cloutier Dear John 2023 Plexi, aluminum, LEDs; aquamarine, cobalt and clear tubes with argon and mercury

48” x 36” x 3”

Photo taken @lililakichstudio by Lili Lakich

Inspired by the Dear John break up letters commonly sent to American soldiers during WWII, Khara Cloutier created a neon self portrait as an ode to everything she abandoned during the Covid pandemic in 2020. The wistful pose, head turned away but eyes gazing upward, expresses the duality of Hello and Goodbye inherent in the phrase, “Dear John."

#neon #neonart #neonartist #neonartwork #lettering #typography #dearjohn #kharacloutier

[kharacloutier]

good tv adjective \ ˈgu̇d ˈtē-ˈvē \

Definition : having the power to fix the attention.

Synonyms engaging, engrossing, entertaining, interesting, intriguing, involving, watchable

Examples: // They’re good TV. // You’re good TV. // We’re good TV.

Khara Cloutier has designed a neon sign that symbolically utilizes liquid fire, mirrored reflection and typography to illustrate themes of metaphor, identity, and states of being. GOOD TV is a fusion of elements representing how we are shaped by our own self fixation. As the viewer peers into the “cool fire of television” they see their own reflection and are at once transformed by their experience within it. This is a space where one can observe and ponder their own subjective reality.

Aluminum, wood, mirrored plexi; krypton crackle tubes

40 x 51.5 x 3.25 inches

#kharacloutier #lililakichstudio #tommastopietro #goodtv #neon #losangeles #lettering

[kharacloutier]

Francine Never Lies was partly inspired by blues singer Francine Reed’s song, “Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues.” Francine Reed is a member of Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, and Cloutier recalls seeing her perform at The Backyard music venue in Austin, Texas.

The sign marks Cloutier’s first foray into neon art. Initially, she had hand-lettered the phrase as both a stencil and Spencerian script lettering exercise, before translating it into the kind of neon sign you might see hanging on the wall of a Texas roadhouse blues bar.

She then animated the type with a flash transformer so that it could be read as either Francine Lies or Francine Never Lies, creating a visual pun for the viewer.

33 x 44 x 3.5 in Materials: Aluminum; glass tubing with argon and mercury gases Exhibited at Lili Lakich Studio and at the Kellogg University Art Gallery's Triennial Faculty Art Show, January 2023.

#neon #lettering #typography #kharacloutier #lililakichstudio #tommastopietro #kellogguniversityartgallery #calpolypomona