Project Description

Eloy Torrez’s artwork will highlight the individuality of veterans and their unique experiences. To create the artwork design, Torrez interviewed veterans from the Greater Los Angeles area about their pre-military, military and post-military lives. Each subject is surrounded by objects and images that represent their personal interests, military service, and other significant facets of their lives to tell their whole story. On the train walls the artwork continues as an undulating dog tag chain punctuated with objects of significance from the veteran stories. Torrez hopes that riders will find moments of connection with the people and images in the artwork.

Artist Statement

“It is important to me that people traveling through the station have a chance to connect with the veterans through their shared and individual experiences and see their humanity in all aspects.”

About the Artist

ELOY TORREZ (b. 1954, Albuquerque, New Mexico) is a painter and songwriter known for creating some of Los Angeles’ most enduring classic murals, such as Pope of Broadway (1984) on the Victor Clothing Company building downtown and Water, Essence of Life (1998) inside the Metropolitan Water District Building. Torrez moved to Los Angeles in 1973 to study at Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design), where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1977. His paintings have been exhibited widely and in 2017, he was the subject of a retrospective exhibition and accompanying monograph titled Vamos a Jugar en las Ruinas (Let’s Go Play in the Ruins) at Plaza de la Raza in Los Angeles. His many awards include the California Community Foundation (CCF) Fellowship for Visual Artists (2004); the Hollywood Arts Council’s Charlie Award for Public Art (2004); and the City of LA (COLA) Individual Artist Fellowship (2009).

Location: Westwood/VA Hospital