Neon is aglow in the city – in fact, one neon artist has been lighting up Chicago with his neon lights for nearly four decades.
CBS 2 Photojournalist Tamott Wolverton headed to Neon Shop Fishtail at 2247 N. Western Ave. to see just how neon lights are created – and to tour the museum of eye candy.Downstate Judge Issues Order Against Mask Mandate For Illinois Schools; Gov. Pritzker's Office Appeals
“You can be pretty fancy with signs, but sometimes I want to be kind of an average Joe when I’m talking about the sign,” Brickler said. “There’s something about the glow and the color of the tubes, and the fact that it was high-voltage electricity and I couldn’t touch it, made me curious about it.” Brickler said the art of neon light creation is “a minute-to-learn and a lifetime-to-master type thing.”
“With COVID, so many people right now are decking out their homes or man caves or woman caves,” he said. “Five people can come into this store, and I’ll have one person looking at modern, contemporary, cutting-edge phrase neon. I’ll have another person looking at automotive neon for their garage art, and another person looking at sports neon for all the Chicago sports and other teams that we make in neon.”“There’s no light that glows like neon,” Brickler said.