Untitled (Questions)
Untitled (Questions) features large-scale queries, alternating between English and Spanish, created by artist Barbara Kruger.
All Exhibitions
In addition to integrating artwork at all Metro stations, we also offer transit riders the opportunity to engage with a wide variety of artworks through multiple exhibition series. The unique, site-specific formats range from neighborhood posters and photography to community art banners and most recently on TAP cards and digital screens at station platforms.
Untitled (Tilford’s)
Jim Isermann’s Untitled (Tilford’s) (2006) reimagined the facade of Metro’s former Wilshire Customer Center. The artwork transformed the existing 1950s building into a dynamic, eye-catching landmark.
The Makers: Portraits of Metro Artists by Todd Gray
This series of photographic portraits present the artists behind the artworks in the Metro system. The illuminated photographs on display in the Passageway Art Gallery depict the artists in their homes and studios, providing a glimpse into their distinct personalities and cultural influences.
The Heart of Los Angeles
Photo based artworks by five artists address Union Station as The Heart of Los Angeles on the occasion of its seventy-fifth anniversary.
Silver Linings
Creative expressions of connection and care are at the heart of Silver Linings, a new series by six local artists that debuted on Metro buses from December 2020-July 2021. Artists include Stephanie Mercado, Laura Vazquez Rodriguez, Phung Huynh, Chris Johanson, Alfonso Aceves and Kassia Rico.
Seven Spots and a Path
As Landscape Artist, Jud Fine collaborated with the landscape architect and the Landscape Project Team to develop design concepts and specifications for landscaping artwork and plantings integrated throughout the G Line (Orange) route.
Regarding Paul R. Williams
Pioneering Los Angeles architect, Paul R. Williams (1894-1980), was the first Black architect to become a member of the American Institute of Architects and built a wildly successful career as an architect, decades before the Civil Rights Movement.
Poetry In Motion/LA™
Launched in October 1998 in partnership with the Poetry Society of America, Poetry in Motion/LA™ places poems directly in the path of more than one million Metro bus riders daily.
More People Than You Know
Metro Art Portrait Series: More People Than You Know is designed to feature and engage the different neighborhoods surrounding the stations of the Metro system. This rotating exhibition features portraits of patrons created by artists connected to the neighborhoods served by the A Line (Blue).
Metro Art Bookmarks, 1996 & 1997
In 1996 and 1997, Metro Art initiated and developed bookmark projects in a creative effort to encourage transit customers to use the Metro system to travel to local libraries. Visual artists and poets were invited to form teams and submit collaborative designs of text and imagery for bookmarks to be distributed in “take one” holders on board 2,000 Metro buses, and at public libraries countywide.
MacArthur Park site (1991-92)
This temporary construction fence, which consisted of 30 painted plywood panel murals, was erected around the drained lake in MacArthur Park in an effort to mitigate construction of MacArthur Park Station.
Journeys: LA Communities Through the Eyes of Artists
Featuring the original artworks by twelve artists who created posters for the Through The Eyes of Artists series, Each artwork on display in this passageway focuses on a particular neighborhood or city in Los Angeles County to capture the look and feel of each place from a personal perspective.
I see what you’re saying (train of thought)
Project Description In 2001, artist Eileen Cowin inaugurated the program with a series of photographs titled, I see what you’re saying (train of thought). These black and white, larger than life, close-up images of eyes and mouths felt separated from their overall context of a continuing narrative. “Eyes” view, witness, notice, watch and spy while “mouths” talk, pout, utter, and express. In viewing these photographs, we were reminded of our habit of looking at others and reading stories into what we see. As we wait, travel, stand or sit, we daydream and those around us weave into our imagination. Artist Statement “The ‘gestures’ in these images are plainly seen, but remain ambiguous… These scenes ride the edge between the real and the unreal, between social commentary and personal fantasy.” About the Artist EILEEN COWIN is an artist who uses photography as a medium. She has been the chair of the Photography Department at California State University at Fullerton for many years. Her Bachelor of Science is from the State University of New York, New Paltz, and Master …
Forward Motion
For this artwork, Michele Asselin has created luminous portraits of an urban planner, mechanic, bus operator, rail security officer and other professions. The artist found inspiration in the personal and professional stories that drew her subjects to Metro.
Far Out: Movement through Form and Color
Abstract art utilizes a visual language of shape, color, and line to depict a composition devoid of recognizable things from nature.
EXPO 1 Banners
To mark the historic opening of the first phase of the Expo Line, now E Line (Expo), and to welcome new transit riders to the neighborhood, Metro celebrated the many contributions of the South Los Angeles community and its rich ethnic diversity in a series of light pole banners installed along Crenshaw Blvd. between Exposition and Vernon.
Divining Los Angeles Landscapes: Woodlands to Watersheds
Photo based artworks by three artists invite visitors to Union Station to explore the histories, paradoxes, ironies and majesties of Los Angeles landscapes.
Deep Connections
Deep Connections, an exhibition now on display in the Union Station Passageway Art Gallery, features the otherworldly black and white photography of artist Ken Karagozian.
Buffer Zone
For Little Tokyo/Arts District Station, Hirokazu Kosaka created six smooth granite benches with concentric circles of black and white, simulating a Zen archery target with station canopies in the shape of Japanese archery bows. Buffer Zone was displayed at the station from 2009-2017 in coordination with the artist.
Art Opportunities
Opportunities with Metro Art include artwork integration within the built environment, short term exhibitions, and more.
An Ode to the Essential
Produced in 2021, An Ode To The Essential is a tribute dedicated to all essential workers and to those we have lost. The tribute features an original poem by Joseph Rios with text in a reflective gold reminiscent of the glow of afternoon light and suspended over a delicate line drawing of a distinctly Los Angeles cityscape by artist Manuel López.
2022 Artist Pool for Digital Media Opportunities
Launched in 2022, the inaugural Metro Art: Digital Shorts series showcases video art and animation on large-format, digital screen arrays at 7th St/Metro Center and Hollywood/ Highland Stations. This new moving image art program is for riders provides a visual interlude between Metro informational content and advertising on the screens, and is one example of an opportunity available to artists who apply to the 2022 Artist Pool for Digital Media Opportunities. Request for Qualifications (RFQ) DEADLINE: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31 at 5:00 pm (PDT) 11:59 pm (PDT) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 at 11:59 pm (PDT) via Slideroom In 2019, Metro introduced digital displays in rail stations that included dedicated space for public art. Since that time, public art programming opportunities on digital displays throughout the transit system has increased, enhancing these transit spaces with dynamic moving image art. Metro Art is now establishing the 2022 Artist Pool for Digital Media specifically for these specialized public art programming opportunities. Opportunity Metro Art invites artists and artist teams working in digital media to submit qualifications, including samples of completed original moving …
2022 Artist Pool for Digital Media Opportunities
Metro Art invites artists and artist teams working in digital media to apply to the 2022 Artist Pool for Digital Media Opportunities. DEADLINE: Wednesday 8/31 at 5:00 pm (PDT) 11:59 pm (PDT) Wednesday 9/14 at 11:59 pm (PDT)
The Yellow Car and Los Angeles
The Yellow Car and Los Angeles, Metro Art’s new exhibition in the Union Station Waiting Room Gallery, offers a fond look back at two foundations of public transit in the region: the “Yellow Cars” of Los Angeles Railway Corporation and the transition to LA’s first years of bus service. Together, these early rail and bus lines shaped the Metro system we have today.
Through the Eyes of Artists
The latest poster by artist Jeaneen Carlino celebrates Downey’s unique vintage charm and post-World War II industrialization through the combination of muted and vibrant colors. Through the Eyes of Artists was initiated in 2003 to creatively celebrate the many cities and neighborhoods Metro serves from the unique perspectives of artists.