New York Rainbows: Billy Apple

Billy Apple®’s New York Rainbows pays homage to his pioneering 1965 solo exhibition, Neon Rainbows, first presented at the Bianchini Gallery in New York City. Neon Rainbows was a landmark exhibition in Apple’s early career, widely credited as one of the first to treat electric light as a sculptural medium. The exhibition positioned Apple at the forefront of artistic experimentation with industrial materials, aligning his practice with the emergent conceptual and minimal art movements of the 1960s.

In Neon Rainbows, Apple took the visual phenomenon of the rainbow—a naturally occurring spectrum of refracted light—and reimagined it through the lens of new technology. Using neon tubes, he transformed this organic occurrence into a structured, artificial display, challenging traditional boundaries between art and commercial signage, nature and industry. This exhibition was a significant moment in the evolution of light-based art, predating and influencing the expanded use of neon and fluorescent materials by artists such as Dan Flavin, Keith Sonnier, and Bruce Nauman. Apple’s engagement with light and color was informed not only by artistic curiosity but also by his sustained interest in the science of perception, branding, and the role of technology in contemporary visual culture.

For New York Rainbows, Apple revisits and recontextualizes his groundbreaking work, bringing Neon Rainbows into a contemporary setting with a new iteration of light-based artworks. The Rarotonga exhibition presents a limited series of fluorescent ink serigraph prints, activated by light, which extend Apple’s enduring fascination with color theory and optical effects. These works are shown alongside original posters from the 1965 exhibition, bridging past and present, and a plexiglass Rainbow sculpture that recalls Apple’s early investigations into the materiality of light and color.

Apple’s sustained engagement with industrial and commercial aesthetics is evident in this tribute, reinforcing his legacy as an artist who continually pushed the boundaries of media and artistic expression. New York Rainbows reaffirms Apple’s role as a pioneer of light art while offering a renewed perspective on the impact of technology on visual experience. In revisiting Neon Rainbows, this exhibition not only pays tribute to Apple’s experimental legacy but also invites contemporary audiences to reconsider the intersections of art, science, and industry in the shaping of modern aesthetics.