Monika Wulfers, Five Equal Sides, not a pentagon

Five Equal Sides, not a pentagon, an important site-specific light installation by German-American artist Monika Wulfers, was purchased by Elmhurst Art Museum earlier this month. The work is a significant example of Wulfers' large-scale neon "drawings" which fills the glass-walled lobby of the Museum from floor to ceiling and is visible from adjacent Wilder Park.

Wulfers' art uses line to work through a rigorous abstraction of visual form. Abstract components of space are re-inscribed three-dimensionally, as in Five Equal Sides, not a pentagon, which features groupings of argon-filled tubes hanging from the ceiling in five-sided configurations to be navigated by the viewer. "Influenced by a range of artists, from Kazimir Malevich to Philip Glass, Wulfers' light installations rely on both mathematics and intuition. Working within self-imposed parameters and with a careful consideration of placement, pattern and scale, her resulting networks of white lines seem to imply infinite possibilities," says Staci Boris, EAM's Chief Curator.

The acquisition was funded by the Phyllis O'Neill Acquisition Fund. It was commissioned as part of Elmhurst Art Museum's 2014 exhibition, SpotLight.