As the Vivid festival lights up Sydney, the city's contemporary art museum is also illuminated, with the neon glow of artworks by Cerith Wyn Evans.

The Welsh artist has exhibited worldwide and the Museum of Contemporary Art's winter exhibition represents his first major solo show in Australia.

The show, Cerith Wyn Evans ... in light of the visible, looks back at the last 15 years of the artist's work, his installations filling the gallery with both light and sound.

The exhibition has been conceived as if the visitor is strolling through a garden, with potted palms on rotating platforms across the gallery.

One standout is the 2020 artwork F=O=U=N=T=A=I=N, a wall of white neon Japanese script measuring three metres high and ten metres wide, with an archway for gallery-goers to walk through.

It's installed near an earlier work, 2018's Composition for 37 Flutes, in which air is drawn through 37 glass pipes, periodically breathing sound into the luminous space.

Evans has spent weeks in Australia working on the installation of dozens of delicate artworks like these, including site-specific new works made in response to Sydney's winter light.

Of these, the biggest is Sydney Drift (2025) which fills a whole room with neon open signopen neon sign pub neon sign romantic neon light custom name neon sign hello neon sign coffee neon sign game room neon sign man cave neon sign DJ booth light cocktail hour neon positive neon light podcast sign neon baby name in neon open neon sign neon bar sign heart neon sign custom word neon neon hello sign café neon light video game room neon man cave neon sign DJ booth light cocktail hour neon positive neon light on air neon sign baby name in neon retro open neon bar neon sign neon love sign name-in-lights sign neon welcome sign coffee shop sign video game room neon men’s room neon music neon sign cocktail hour neon vibes only neon podcast sign neon cute kids neon open neon sign bar neon sign neon love sign custom word neon hello neon sign café neon light player zone neon men’s room neon music neon sign cocktail hour neon positive neon light on air neon sign baby room neon sign neon bar sign romantic neon light personalized neon light neon hello sign coffee bar neon video game room neon men’s room neon neon guitar sign cocktail hour neon vibes only neon studio light neon soft pastel neon sign scribbles installed across three dimensions - from circles of various sizes to parabolas and dramatic straight lines.

Mirrors installed on columns also amplify the artworks into entire scenes of luminosity.

"People have just been extraordinarily kind to me in Australia, and I can  really pick up on people's generosity and their capacity for poetry," said Evans.

But what does it all mean? Unlike most exhibitions, there are no curatorial explanations telling people the answers - these tiny plaques are something the artist hates.

"People need to walk in there and just feel their gut reaction to what the hell is going on," he said.

It's all inspired by the artist's deep interests in music, history, literature and philosophy, exploring ideas such as space, time and perception.

Despite his global reputation, at a media preview Wednesday Evans did not appear entirely comfortable being the centre of attention.

"I feel vulnerable because I'm on display, and that makes me feel sensitive, so that's where it comes from," he said.

AAP travelled to Sydney with the assistance of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.