The Museum of Neon Art announced the work of Michael Flechtner: Ecce Artifex on display starting on June 26.The opening for this retrospective will take place from 6 – 8 p.m. on July 11 and is free to the public. 

Michael Flechtner has made a lasting mark on the art form of neon through his mastery of three-dimensional sculpture and employment of visual puns as well as his role mentoring future generations of neon benders.

“It is the very definition of a retrospective. It is amazing to see this body of my work, spanning almost four decades and to recognize themes, associations and ideas revisited and revised with always different and interesting results,” said the artist. 

Born in Tiffin, Ohio, Flechtner had an early interest in colored light and electronics. He incorporated some into his first artworks while a Bachelors of Fine Art student at Columbus College of Art and Design and during his Masters of Fine Art studies at Wichita State University.

  After a trip to the Museum of Neon Art, Flechtner decided he would learn how to bend neon so that he could move to Los Angeles and participate in the flourishing new media scene. He enrolled in a six-week neon fabricating class with Freddy Elliott in Salina, Kansas. This taught Flechtner enough hands-on skills to work in a neon sign shop after relocating to Los Angeles. He pursued commercial neon by day and his own sculptural neon by night at his studio in Van Nuys. 

“Considering my first visit to MONA in the late ’80s and really discovering this world of ‘neon art,’ my having an exhibit at MONA is really things coming full circle!” Said Flechtner.

  In 1991 Flechtner presented his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Neon Art. His best-known public work in Los Angeles is the Neon Aquarium at Olympic and Sawtelle, completed in 1998. In 1999 he became a J. Paul Getty Trust Fund Fellow. He was commissioned by the USPS in 2011 to design a postage stamp for the Forever series: the Neon Celebrate! Stamp. The original artwork is held in the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

MONA hours are Thursday-Saturday from noon to 7 p.m., Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free for MONA members; general admission is $10, seniors (65+) – $8, Glendale residents (with ID) – $5, children (12 and under) – free (with an adult), veterans (with ID) – free and EBT holders (with card) – $3.