Philip Hazard was born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1950. He received his B.A from the University of Toledo in Film and Design and his M.F.A from Bowling Green State University in 2007. He has also studied screenwriting and film directing at the New York University Film School. In 1975 he began creating sculptures in neon, which he finds symbolic of American popular culture. Many of Hazard's sculptures combine neon forms and painted backgrounds and refer in form and imagery to the early neon signs of the 1940s and 1950s. His work has been exhibited in France, Sweden, Germany, and the United States. Hazard is also a playwright and has had two plays produced off-Broadway.
*Excerpted from Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.