Bermudez Projects, Los Angeles is excited to announce that The Neon Museum, Las Vegas has acquired Leticia Maldonado’s work, Electric Hustlers (Seated).
Roger Thomas, The Neon Museum Collections Committee Chairperson says of this acquisition:
“Leticia Maldonado’s work, Electric Hustlers, is an important addition to the permanent collection of the Neon Museum in Las Vegas for several reasons: It is unusual to find neon work by female artists and we want to encourage more women to practice with this medium. Figurative neon has been an important tradition in Las Vegas Neon expression from Vegas Vic to Vegas Vicki, and Electric Hustlers is a wonderful 21st-century expression of that tradition but completely original in concept and drawing style. It is a tour de force of neon craftsmanship and art. It is particularly wonderful to include the work of a of a native-born Las Vegas Vegan artist in our Collection. The story of Neon in Las Vegas as both an art form and a design distinction is not just in the past, it is moving into the future.”
Bermudez Projects extends its most sincere thanks and appreciation to everyone on The Neon Museum team for helping to make this acquisition possible, as well as to all the supporters for their generous contributions.
Electric Hustlers was acquired through the generosity of donors committed to bringing this piece into The Neon Museum’s collection.
Leticia Maldonado (American, b. 1980) is a multimedia sculptor working in luminous glass. Enamored at a young age with the violent elegance of plants and flowers taking their shape from the journey of survival, and then juxtaposing that energy with a deep love for books and the symbols of personal power available within, Maldonado has cultivated a visual vocabulary that endeavors to use object-making in service of poetic disruption.
First pursuing an education in figurative illustration and sequential storytelling, Maldonado spent time at The Art Institute of Las Vegas, and later studied at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art. Growing up and spending her formative years in the desert outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada, it was an easy step to associate the neon lights of the city with the concepts of escape and autonomy. Moving into illuminated glass as a medium, Maldonado found her way to Lili Lakich’s neon design and fabrication classes, and later studied glass bending and processing with the artist Michael Flechtner.
Since she debuted in the LA art scene in 2017, Maldonado has swiftly achieved critical acclaim for her groundbreaking sculptures and installations. Her work has been included in group shows throughout the U.S. and internationally. She’s been featured in Vice TV; reviewed by Artillery Magazine; was the subject of the award-winning documentary film, Las Vegas Bender; and most recently was profiled by PARQ Magazine. In 2022, Maldonado’s first-ever museum solo exhibit was at the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, California. Her work was recently included in the 2023 SUR Biennial at the Torrance Art Museum, and is currently on view at The Nicolaysen Art Museum in Wyoming.