We are a multi-disciplinary studio borne from the minds and eyes of Dana Burton and Dennis Dix
Founded in 1983 by partners Dennis Dix and Dana Burton, City Lights Neon neighbors Eden Park, and downtown Cincinnati. The studio continues to design and create neon and mixed media works for signage, display, environmental graphics, art, and lighting effects. The firm has established and upheld a stellar reputation throughout its 40 year history for its creativity and expertise.
Dix and Burton were recently honored for their roles as members of the project team for the restoration of the late Stephen Antonakos’s Red Incomplete Circles. The project and team received a coveted GSA 2022 Design Award. The site specific piece, for the Federal Building, in Dayton, Ohio, was originally commissioned under the Art in Architecture Program, U.S. General Services Administration, in 1977. Dix and Burton were selected for the neon restoration, a multi-year project, completed in late 2018.
City Lights Neon has not only designed and created work for major corporate interests including many Procter & Gamble brands, Federated Department Stores, Jacor and Clear Channel radio, and television, … they have also collaborated with other artists including Dale Chihuly, Susan Etkin, Joseph Kosuth, Keith Sonnier, Suzanne Silver, Toi Ungkavatanapong, Anthony Luensman, and artist collective Claire Fontaine to produce or install their neon works.
City Lights Neon’s work has been represented in magazines, newspapers, television, film, and books including noted author Rudi Stern’s The New Let There Be Neon and Contemporary Neon. The late Mr. Stern, in The New Let There Be Neon, described City Lights Neon (Cincinnati, Ohio) as “one of the most innovative workshops in the country, known for its craftsmanship and high level of design expertise.”
As fine artists Dix and Burton have exhibited their mixed media sculpture in regional and local galleries and museums. Their artworks reside both in private and corporate collections.