Larry Albright, 419 Sunset Ave. Venice, California USA

1-310-399-0865

About Larry Albright

Plasma Art Homepage

Larry Albright - Venice artist, well known for his "Plasma " globes and crackle neon has worked as a sculptor in Venice since the late 60's


As a professional artist, Larry's interest and experimentation with electricity and the noble gases has spilled over into a variety of applications, including the special effects world of film, family entertainment, such as Disneyland, Universal Studios, Epcott Center, and Expo's all over the world.
Larry Albright started in the early 70's using this Plasma display as an art form. Today there are many using these techniques in Neon as well as larger vessels filled with rare gas, and all manner of things.

His consultation for motion picture special effects include:


Star Wars,
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Buck Rodgers
Star Trek, The Motion Picture
1941
The Rising Sun
Battle Beyond the Stars
One from the Heart
Firefox
Bladerunner
The Man with Two Brains
Buckaroo Bansaii
My Science Project
Goonies
Hudsucker
The Abyss
Honey, I Blew Up the Kids
Power Rangers the Movie
Ed Wood
Batman
and more...

An Interview With Larry Albright


PROF. WILLIAM CROOKES (BORN 1832) & HEINRICH GEISSLER. (SAME ERA) Undoubtedly the first artists in plasma. CROOKES made many experiments with partially evacuated tubes filled with various gases and some with a fairly high vacuum. Many of the Geissler tubes had different gases and used fluorescent Uranium bearing glass in elegant and dicilicate shapes with some very intricate glass work. Some had separate compartments filled with soulitions of Quinine, Aesculin and Naphtalene-red are some of the best examples of fluorescent materials. My globes and sculptural shapes are filled with a recipe of gases, all from the inert gas group; xenon, argon, krypton, helium, and neon. These gases are easily ionized, that is, the electricity is turned into paths of excited gas similar to lightning from clouds to ground, they are both electrical discharges in gas. The essential difference is that one is controlled and staged inside a vacuum, while the other (lightning) happens in nature, and so the term Bottled Lightning! Much of the magic is in the formulation of the gases and the ratio of gas components can be extremely critical The power supplies used create electricity of high voltage and high frequency. This kind of electricity exaggerates the electrical ionization of the gases. The type of electricity is high in voltage, but low in amperage so it is safe to touch. The high frequency characteristic is that it travels over your skin, i.e. skin effect so no electrical sensation is felt, other than a tickle


Larry Albright
419 Sunset Ave.
Venice California USA
1-310-399-0865