Larry Simmons: In a Different Light
September 6 - September 13, 2025
Opening during Hi-Five Fest, September 6, 10am-4pm
Viewing Friday and Saturday, September 12-13, 6-10pm

CO-OPt Research + Projects presents a pop up installation by Larry Simmons, for the Lubbock Cultural Arts Foundation's fifth anniversary and celebration. 

Larry has used recycled neon signs and sign pieces from the former Lubbock Strip (“The Strip” or “Little Vegas”) to create a pop-up light installation in the gallery.

Viewers will see the installation through the gallery windows and are invited to walk through the bright light and buzzing sounds of transformers inside the space.

Lubbock county did not allow package liquor to be sold until 2009. The Strip was a former popular spot east of town off HWY 87, close to the county line, where people could buy packaged alcohol. The spot was once brightly light by colorful neon signs.

About the artist:

Larry Simmons has been a Hub City resident for over fifty years. He was an architecture student that hung out in the basement wood shop with art student friends, beginning in 1974. He attended the first Lubbock Arts Festival in 1979. Started working with neon, through Artist Tony Greer in 1981. He then worked in the entertainment/night club business, designing, building, running, and owning various locations until 2003. He was heavily involved in Downtown Lubbock beginning in 1994 with the Depot Restaurant and the beginning of the Depot District. Simmons opened Tornado Gallery with Tony and Jennifer Greer in 2007, for thirteen years on the FFAT through 2020. He began the Downtown Art Market/ Lubbock Downtown Farmers Market in 2009.

“I have always worked with my hands, built anything needed for projects and consider myself a fabricator, in a variety of materials.”