Through illuminated neon glass sculpting, painting, and drawing, multimedia artist Annesta Le’s work extends beyond minimally stunning art. Building her art practice around mysticism, psychology, and emotion, the Brooklyn-based artist seeks to understand the deeper meaning beyond life and art. Like many artists, Le’s practice centers around a constant state of evolving and is conscious about the work she creates. A calming energy is evident when experiencing the immersive and innovative work by Le through her dynamic neon sculptures, feminine drawings and paintings.

Here Le walks us through her dynamic studio practice.

About the Artist

Annesta Le is a multimedia artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She left the University of Texas, where she was studying computer science, and, following intensive work with a Jungian psychoanalyst and a life-altering visit to the Brazilian rainforest, shifted from occasional drawing and painting at home to a rigorous studio practice. As the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, her ongoing work of positioning herself within society and translating her inner life is reflected in her art, which—like any human subject—is constantly evolving.

Her practice can be divided into two distinct but parallel paths: sculpting with illuminated neon and drawing with markers. Le shapes her neon sculptures through an intensively intuitive process that imbues the minimalist works with a bodily and psychic presence. Her drawings, similarly psychological in both production and content, are part of a daily practice that involves little to no preconceived imagery. These vibrant drawings, reminiscent of vegetable forms and female anatomy, function as a form of automatic writing.

Le’s neon sculptures were recently featured in a solo show at Yi Gallery in New York City and at Untitled Art Fair in Miami. She is the recipient of a grant from the Peter S. Reed Foundation, and her work has been recognized in publications such as The Brooklyn Rail, Artefuse, Hyperallergic, and Vogue.

Photo credit: Jenny Acosta (@jennyjomeslice)

I am a multidisciplinary artist working with illuminated neon glass, painting, and drawing to produce minimalist traces of text, bodies, and psychic impressions. My work is characterized by bold, definitive marks in a vibrant palette that foregrounds emotion, psychology, and mysticism. I approach each piece in an open-ended, improvisational way, resulting in a final composition that reflects my internal image—a fusion of the somatic and psychological that is constantly evolving through artistic, psychoanalytic, and cultural work. I fabricate my own neon sculptures and consider this process a literal extension of my body. Neon’s social, psychological, historical, and mystical complexity adds tension to my formally simple sculptures. The psychoanalytic process of uncovering the unconscious not only led to my shift from computer science to visual art, but it also remains at the core of my practice.