Neon Nevada - Hardcover

Laufer, Peter; Laufer, Sheila Swan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0762770686 ISBN 13: 9780762770687

Publisher: Globe Pequot, 2011

Synopsis

Neon Nevada is at once a stirring ode to a fading tradition and a celebration of a unique modern art, one whose pages will bring back memories while, perhaps, also conjuring up dreams of the future.

About this title

Review

Something's glowing out in the desert night, but it isn't New Mexico, and these creatures aren't visitors from another planet. There is a pig with wings--who may well be fleeing the Nevada barbecue establishment he advertises--and a creature who looks something like Elmer Fudd with a lightning bolt for a body. But that's as close as we get to alien beings, unless you count the penguin in a ten-gallon hat and cowboy boots. These colorful images of cartoon cowboys, cowgirls, women bathing in martini glasses, and martinis sans women illuminate an aspect of Americana--the neon sign--that has been largely neglected.

From the Inside Flap

There is no neon to match Nevada’s. The combination of Wild West mythology and the remaining untamed pitch-black nighttime landscape, replete with real cowboys and real gambling, makes the Silver State a unique and appropriate canvas for neon art. Modern Nevada began with a nonstop desire for riches. It continues for many as a state of dreams often vividly expressed through exploding neon. Neon Nevada brings all this alive.
Cameras in hand, authors Sheila Swan and Peter Laufer embarked on their first Nevada neon trek in the 1970s. They followed this up with a second nocturnal treasure hunt in the early 1990s—and a third in 2010, in the course of which they discovered that neon is fading fast; most notably on the Las Vegas Strip. Most of all, though, they realized that their passion for the art and craft of neon had not waned.
A compelling blend of full-color photographs and absorbing prose, Neon Nevada takes us on a literal and figurative journey not only down the Las Vegas strip but also down quiet two-lane roads punctuated occasionally with neon signs, those glittering beacons of civilization against the desert night sky. The authors talk with sign owners, with those who created and maintained the neon, and those who collect it.

Edition details

• Publisher: Globe Pequot
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0762770686
• ISBN 13: 9780762770687
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128