Project Description

Strip malls and highway entrance ramps appear to continue endlessly in David Maisel’s aerial photographs of Los Angeles, titled Oblivion (2016). This portrait of our metropolis offers a sense of both place and displacement, and underscores the need for a thriving public transportation system. The series also gives us a sense of where we are personally and on the level of urban planning.

These artworks are on view as part of the Metro Art Photo Lightbox Series.

David Maisel, Oblivion

Artist Statement

“These images describe LA’s massive infrastructure, and potentially elicit elemental design questions from citizens of this landscape— such as ‘Where is home? Where is our safe haven? How can we move towards such a place or condition?’ —that imply we may be searching for a kind of sanctuary within this urban fabric.”

About the Artist

DAVID MAISEL (b. 1961, New York) earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Princeton University and Master of Fine Arts from California College of the Arts. From institutional archives to environmentally impacted sites, his photographs of transmuted objects and aerial views of altered landscapes probe the artifacts of mankind. He has an extensive history of exhibitions throughout the United States and in Canada, Europe and Korea. His photographs are in a number of prominent museum collections, including the Denver Art Museum, Getty Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Gallery of Art. Among his accolades are awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Center for Cultural Innovation, and residencies at the Getty Research Institute and Headlands Center for the Arts.