In the spirit of promoting and highlighting uplifting messages about connecting with and caring for one another during challenging times and beyond, Metro piloted a new series, Silver Linings. Local artists were commissioned to create original artworks that visualize and encourage expressions of connection and care. Artworks created for the series were reproduced for digital and print display in Metro’s transportation system to serve as reminders that acts of care, however large or small, are also essential and can be the silver lining on tough days.
These new artworks were featured as posters in Metro buses from December 2020 through July 2021.
Stephanie Mercado
For The Love of Essential Workers, Stephanie Mercado
“The valuable services provided by essential workers and the power of arts and culture are heightened during challenging times.”
Stephanie Mercado is an interdisciplinary artist, arts administrator and teaching artist from the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. Focused on the workforce, manual labor, and empowerment, her work pays homage to the dignity and contributions of others. Mercado uses traditional printmaking techniques to highlight the intimate link between laborers and their craft, emphasizing the transformative power of work. Mercado received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University Long Beach. She has exhibited internationally, including exhibitions in Norway and Cuba. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Tamarind Institute of Lithography, New Mexico, and the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas.
On display December 2020 – February 2021
Laura Vazquez Rodriguez
Unmask Your Heart, Laura Vazquez Rodriguez
“Through the eye of the storm, we see glimpses of hope. We have opened our hearts and found new ways to express compassion and love.”
Laura Vazquez Rodriguez is a Los Angeles-born and based artist. Her love for her culture and deep faith are reflected in her paintings and illustrations. Rodriguez celebrates women, their achievements and contributions to society. Her art honors motherhood, promotes humanity, spirituality, love and healing — elements she feels are essential to life. Rodriguez has exhibited throughout the region including Self Help Graphics & Art, UCLA, Casa 101, Gallery ChimMaya and Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral. Her recent work includes Raise Your Voice created for Los Angeles County’s 19th Amendment Centennial Celebration, now part of the County’s Civic Art Collection.
On display December 2020 – February 2021
Phung Huynh
Bloom Where You Are Planted, Phung Huynh
“The astronaut rooster is a reminder that each dawn offers new possibilities, while the lotus flowering cactus symbolizes resilience, and that we can bloom where we are planted.”
Phung Huynh is a Los Angeles-based artist and educator whose practice is primarily in drawing, painting, and public art. Huynh’s work explores cultural perception and representation. She challenges beauty standards by constructing images of the Asian female body vis-à-vis plastic surgery to unpack how contemporary cosmetic surgery can create obscurity in cultural and racial identity. Her current series of drawings on pink donut boxes explores the complexities of the refugee experience in Southeast Asian communities. Huynh’s paintings and drawings have been exhibited nationally and internationally, and she has completed public art commissions for Metro and the Los Angeles Zoo.
On display February 2021 – May 2021
Chris Johanson
Untitled (The 2020 Coexistence in Pandemic Peace Piece), Chris Johanson
“Colors and visual rhythms speak to simultaneous individuality and co-existence. This snapshot of an upended, complex time holds pockets of joy and serenity.”
Chris Johanson, based in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, engages with the meditative qualities of art-making and sincere direct communication through painting and sculpture using figuration and abstraction as expressions of his strong beliefs in environmentalism, compassion and peaceful co-existence. Johanson has exhibited widely in museums and galleries internationally over the past decades, as well as in important group exhibitions including the 2002 Whitney Biennial and a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles– Pacific Design Center.
On display February 2021 – May 2021
Alfonso Aceves
La Esperanza, Alfonso Aceves
“The music plays. The helping hand reaches out. The birds fly by. The flowers grow. The work of sharing joy continues. The community draws together. Our hearts beat for one another.”
Alfonso Aceves is an accomplished self-taught printmaker born and raised in Boyle Heights who has shown work throughout California as well as in Washington State, New Mexico, and Arizona. Aceves found his passion and inspiration for life through his discovery of printmaking 10 years ago. Along with artist Adriana Carranza and their four children, Aceves founded Kalli Arte, a family art collective dedicated to speaking directly to their community through printmaking, exhibitions, art installations, community workshops and marketplaces.
On display May 2021 – July 2021
Kassia Rico
In Our Hands, Kassia Rico
“Created to uplift and bring joy to the community, the daily commuter and the city in which I was raised, this artwork celebrates relationships that get us through tough times.”
Kassia Rico is a Chinese Mexican American artist and designer working out of Los Angeles. She draws her ideas from emotions and experiences while instinctively putting her graphic spin on her designs. Rico is passionate about using visual communication to inspire and make the world a better place. Pulling from her experiences, she creates stories completely arranged in a palette of bold color and subtle shades. Her practice ranges from painting and illustration to functional art objects, books, murals, and apparel. Originally from California, Rico completed an illustration degree from Rhode Island School of Design where she studied drawing, painting, printmaking, and graphic design.