After 5: Artist turns affinity for electric signs into rare exhibit

Russ RuBert has a thing for neon.

The Springfield artist known for Kinetic Man in Jordan Valley Park and other large-scale public sculptures has amassed nearly 1,000 neon signs in 20 years of collecting from auctions, business closings and friends.

"I never turn down any neon," he says.

RuBert's latest exhibit brings his collection to the forefront. "3-D Neonscapes" is lighting up the Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, where the show is on display through Sept. 4.

Like any artist, RuBert wants his work to draw attention, but his "3-D Neonscapes" exhibit all but makes a guarantee. Even in this exhibit, RuBert doesn't veer from his arts' signature interactive elements.

Each piece in the show - what he calls suspended synapses, based off the design of the human brain - contains various clusters of neon tubing that turn on when visitors approach. Infrared motion sensors near the ground start a chain of electrical relays that ignite the electrodes inside.

"As you walk by part of the sculpture (and) through the environment, it will light up in response to where you're standing or how you move," RuBert explains. "If you walk around it 360 degrees, it'll light the entire thing up. It becomes very interactive. Two people, of course, can light it up much better than one person, and a whole group of people can really keep the thing lit."

RuBert bent neon pieces from landmark signs but in a way that names are hardly recognized. He later wired the vintage neon to react when the motion sensors are crossed.

"It's more of a trade than a fine art," he says of the complex system.

In that way, "3-D Neonscapes" is an invention as much as an art exhibit. His inspiration is the human brain, its trillions of synapses, and the electrical and chemical releases when thoughts emerge. Much of his original research was spent watching Public Broadcasting Service specials on the brain and led to the pod shapes in the exhibit with 3-D neon clusters inside each - "kind of like thoughts are recombined inside your head in different ways."

The pods have names such as "Sushi is delicious," "I've got something in my eye," and "Rocket to Mars" - giving references to where the neon originated or RuBert's thoughts when piecing the neon together.

Many of the neon signs once hung high atop bustling businesses. Popular places such as Beggar's Banquet video store, Shotgun Sam's pizza parlor and Griff's hamburgers get a nod in the show.

"When I was a kid, I would eat at Griff's hamburgers. It was one of the coolest signs: Big eyeballs that looked like burgers," RuBert says. "I ended up with that."

His quest for neon continues.

Just last week, he received an offer from Maschino's owner Nancy Brown via e-mail: "In my basement, I have several old neon signs, all from the old Rexall Drug Store soda fountain," she wrote him. The signs are of the words soda and ice cream, and there's a neon gold emblem, too. "If you want to have them, I would be happy for you to take them."

One that got away was the old Cat and the Fiddle sign from the legendary South Glenstone Avenue lounge.

"That was one I wanted to get," he says.