Dante Leonelli 1931-2025
Pioneer of Kinetic Art.
Kinetica was honoured to showcase some of Leonelli’s most iconic works through the generosity of Kinetica Museum’s Arts Council funding. This enabled us to sponsor Dante to restore three of his light works which were previously shown at the 1970s Hayward Gallery show ‘Continuum’.
Leonelli explored perception through changing fields of light and colour. He experimented with new technologies and industrial materials, using primarily plastics, fiberglass, glass and neon light to create futuristic ‘Space age’ sculptures and invented a way to dim neon light which gave rise to the movement within his works.
As a tutor at the Royal College of Art in the 1960s he was able to use the latest technologies and equipment to create his large scale works.
The early 1960s were shaped by postwar optimism, rapid scientific progress, and a collective fascination with the future. Modernism shifted toward futurism with visions inspired and dominated by geometric and organic forms such as spheres, ellipses, cones and discs that referenced planets and satellites mostly seen in Leonellis’ work. The new materials enabled lighter, more fluid forms and embodied the era’s belief in progress, mobility, and life in motion.
Neon Domes at Kinetica Museum 2006
Dante Leonelli and his Neon Domes at Hayward Gallery ‘Continuum’ 1970
