Rudi Stern

Rudolph George Stern (1936-2006) was an American multimedia artist most widely known for his work in neon. In his later years he concentrated on making documentary films.

Biography

Stern was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from Bard College in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in studio arts and from University of Iowa in 1960 with a master's degree. He also studied painting with Oskar Kokoschka and Hans Hofmann.

He moved to New York City in the mid-1960s where he met the poet and artist Jackie Cassen. They collaborated on multimedia installations of kinetic art, including the "Psychedelic Celebration Number One" for LSD advocate Timothy Leary, and installations at the Electric Circus nightclub.

In 1972 he founded "Let There Be Neon", a studio and gallery in New York. He designed and produced neon pieces for the Broadway show, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and other art and music performances, as well as commercial signs.

Together with Katharine Kean, he directed the 1992 documentary, Haití: Killing the Dream, starring Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Between 1999 and 2001, his multimedia installation, "Theater of Light", was shown at multiple locations in New York and New Jersey. The installation involved several screens, over 30 projectors and "surrounded audience members with densely layered, constantly changing images, intricately choreographed to music."

Stern died in 2006 at his home in Cadiz, Spain from complications of lung cancer. He was married twice, to Moira North and then to Raffaella Trivi, and he and Rafaella had a daughter, Stella. He also had a daughter, Lumiere, by an early relationship.

Publications

• Stern, Rudi (1979). Let There Be Neon. Harry N Abrams. ISBN 9780810912557. 
• Stern, Rudi (1990). Contemporary Neon. Visual Reference Publications Inc. ISBN 9780934590372. 
• di Lemme, Philip (1984). American Streamline: Handbook of Neon Advertising Design. Introduction by Rudi Stern. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. ISBN 9780442281045.