Project Description

This temporary mitigation project was spearheaded by Mario Tamayo, owner of Atlas Bar and Grill at Los Angeles’s Wiltern Theater complex, and coordinated in conjunction with LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions). The Metro Open Air Art Wall featured new work by contemporary artists selected by LACE; the work changed approximately bi-monthly.

Matthew Mackendrick and David Hollen, known throughout Los Angeles for their extraordinary facade and restoration work, designed the wall to resemble Art Deco architecture, while acknowledging the neighborhood and site. Photographs by Dennis Olanzo Callwood were incorporated in the design of the wall. Callwood documents the cultural landscape of Los Angeles through its festivals, celebrations, and everyday events.

Artist Statement

“The historical Deco architecture, the multicultural community, the appeal to the ‘driver-by’ and the leisurely pedestrian were all considered. We’re lucky to be working in Los Angeles where nobody thinks about placing limits on expression or imagination.” – Matthew Mackendrick & David Hollen

“The cultural events, their locations and the stimuli that trigger such emotion are the underlying themes, but it is the emotion itself that I am trying to capture.”  – Dennis Olanzo Callwood