This moment where artificial light mixes with nature, is precisely what Jim Thalassoudis has been capturing on canvas with all its beauty, subtlety, and extreme detail.
The lure of the lurid neon light glows at dusk, likewise prior to sunset the sky is magical before the mystery of the night begins. This moment where artificial light mixes with nature, is precisely what Jim Thalassoudis has been capturing on canvas with all its beauty, subtlety, and extreme detail. However, these luminous paintings of vintage neon signs are more than a homage to beauty, they capture and preserve a memory of a place and of a time.
One must remember these are oil paintings, painstakingly painted and each taking hundreds of hours to complete making them more real than real. In doing so, Jim creates the illusion of the neon glowing and imbues the paintings with the ambiance of being there.
Neon light is so seductive and mesmerising to us that what started out as advertising has over time endeared itself to our hearts so much to become intrinsic to our sense of place. These neon signs having transcended their intended purpose have now become artefacts of human culture.
The products these neon signs once advertised are no longer made but the generations that have grown up seeing these signs have assigned memories to past encounters with a new meaning that is now all their own.