{{short description|American multimedia artist}} {{Expand Italian|topic=bio|Rudi Stern|date=November 2016}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox artist | name = Rudi Stern | image = | caption = | birth_name = Rudolph George Stern | birth_date = {{Birth date|1936|11|30}} | birth_place = New Haven, Connecticut<ref name=Fox>{{cite news|last=Fox |first=Margalit |author-link=Margalit Fox |title=Rudi Stern, Artist Whose Medium Was Light, Dies at 69 |date=August 18, 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/arts/18stern.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=November 12, 2016}}</ref> | death_date = {{death date and age|2006|08|15|1936|11|30}} | death_place = Cadiz, Spain<ref name=Fox /> | field = Multimedia artist | website = | spouse = {{plainlist|* {{marriage|Moira North|1980|1988|end=div}}<ref name=neon>{{cite web |title=Rudi Stern Memorial Page |url=http://www.lettherebeneon.com/?page_id=150 |publisher= Let There Be Neon |access-date=November 12, 2016}}</ref> * {{marriage |Raffaella Trivi|2004|2006}}<ref name=neon />}} }} '''Rudolph George Stern''' (November 30, 1936 – August 15, 2006) was an American multimedia artist most widely known for his work in neon. In his later years, he concentrated on making documentary films.<ref name=Fox />
== Early life and education == 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.<ref name=Fox /><ref name=neon /> He also studied painting with Oskar Kokoschka and Hans Hofmann.<ref name=Fox /><ref name=Gigliotti>{{cite web |author=Gigliotti, Davidson| date=December 1999 |title=The Early Video Project: Interview with Rudi Stern, Parts One and Two |url=http://davidsonsfiles.org/RudiSternInterview.html |publisher=davidsonfiles.org |access-date=November 12, 2016}}</ref>
== Career == In the mid-1960s, he moved to New York City, 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,<ref name=Gigliotti /> and installations at the Electric Circus nightclub.<ref name=Fox /> With video artist and documentarian John Reilly, Stern founded Global Village Video in 1969.
In 1972, he founded Let There Be Neon,<ref name=neon /> a studio and gallery in New York.<ref name=Fox /> He designed and produced neon pieces for the Broadway show, ''Kiss of the Spider Woman'',<ref name=LATimes>{{cite news |title=Rudi Stern, 69; Artist Was Known for His Work With Neon |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-aug-21-me-passings21.1-story.html |date=August 21, 2006 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=November 12, 2016}}</ref> and other art and music performances, as well as commercial signs.<ref name=Fox />
Together with Katharine Kean, he directed the 1992 documentary ''Haití: Killing the Dream'', starring Jean-Bertrand Aristide.<ref>{{cite web |title=Haití: Killing the Dream |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0263417/ |website=IMDb|access-date=November 12, 2016}}</ref>
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, more than 30 projectors and "surrounded audience members with densely layered, constantly changing images, intricately choreographed to music."<ref name=Fox />
==Personal life== Stern was married twice, to Moira North and then to Raffaella Trivi. He had two daughters: Stella (with Trivi) and Lumiere (by an earlier relationship).<ref name="Fox" />
He died in 2006 at his home in Cadiz, Spain, from complications of lung cancer.<ref name="Fox" />
== Publications == * {{cite book |last=di Lemme |first=Philip |year=1984 |title=American Streamline: Handbook of Neon Advertising Design |others= Introduction by Rudi Stern |publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold Company |isbn=978-0-442-28104-5}} * {{cite book |last=Stern |first=Rudi |year=1979 |title=Let There Be Neon |publisher=Harry N Abrams |isbn=978-0-8109-1255-7}} * {{cite book |last=Stern |first=Rudi |year=1990 |title=Contemporary Neon |publisher=Visual Reference Publications Inc. |isbn=978-0-934590-37-2}}
==See also== * Neon lighting
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.lettherebeneon.com/ Let There Be Neon] * [http://davidsonsfiles.org/RudiSternInterview.html Extensive interview with Rudi Stern]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Rudi}} Category:1936 births Category:2006 deaths Category:Neon artists Category:Artists from Connecticut