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May Sun, Untitled - Sun

Untitled

Artist(s):

Project Description The artist/architect team design for the Hollywood/Western Station attempts to reclaim the past for the future. The design pays homage to the native Mestizo heritage and original European settlement as well as to the panethnic backgrounds of more recent immigrants who constitute a large portion of Metro Rail users. Artist May Sun created copper, granite and porcelain enamel panels with text and photographs set in a field of randomly-colored wall tiles. The panels depict bones of early camel, horse, and bison from excavations at the site, statements about Gabrielino life in the area, images of workers building the station and their counterparts on the old Red Car system, and images of the adjacent neighborhood. As a tribute to the Red Car system that ended its service to Hollywood in the early 1940s, two replicas of the old Pacific Electric Red Cars protrude from the mezzanine wall, allowing passengers to reminisce about the past while contemplating what the future may hold. Passengers will also find a station floor enhanced with bright granite pavers, some …

George Stone, Untitled - Stone

Untitled

Artist(s):

Glass-clad columns with shaped metal capitals provide stark contrast to the beauty of natural-looking rock formations found at all levels of the station, including the entrance area.

Robert Millar, Untitled – Millar

Untitled

Artist(s):

Project Description Strong form, dynamic space, texture, and an emphasis on both natural and artificial light identify this elegant award-winning station designed by architect Ellerbe Becket, Inc. in collaboration with artist Robert Millar. By questioning the very nature of place versus space, the artist and architect seek to heighten our awareness of our location within the urban environment. The main entrance is marked by a bold architect-designed stainless steel “wing” canopy, and the artist-designed space beneath is punctuated by subtle skylights which flood the 42-foot high space with daylight. At night, on the street level, these skylights become a brightly lit “stage” made available to performing arts groups. Reflecting his inquiry into issues related to the project, artist Robert Millar layered thousands of subtly painted questions onto the concrete surfaces of the main entryway. As escalators carry riders through this space, overhead beams rhythmically reveal polycarbonate and aluminum paintings while natural and colored fluorescent lights reflect on their undulating surfaces. The team worked with the nearby Braille Institute and LA City College to incorporate a …

Stephen Johnson, Universal Delights

Universal Delights

Artist(s):

Stephen Johnson’s Universal Delights commemorates the birthplace of ‘the industry’ noting the 1915 dedication of Carl Laemmle’s Universal Film Manufacturing Company in the area.

Sheila Klein, Underground Girl

Underground Girl

Artist(s):

Project Description “Hollywood” connotes a place, a street, an industry, myth, fantasy and spectacle: a distinct culture known throughout the world. The core, or essence, of Hollywood prompted the artist/architect design team to consider, “What sleeps beneath the city at the corner of Hollywood and Highland?” and influenced the creation of a station that honors the cinematic, theatrical, and fantastical heritage that is Hollywood. The entrance to the station is announced with a sweeping metal canopy. Passengers entering the station are greeted by a dynamic display of artist-created images projected from theatrical lights suspended from a sculptural ceiling truss. The concrete station box has been transformed by this team into a telescoping, organic form where rhythmic breaks in the walls and ceiling panels reveal structural supports; in much the same way, movie or theater production stage sets, or the nearby Hollywood sign, are facades held in place. Sculptural forms are attached like organisms to the platform columns and boldly illuminate the station’s cavity. One has the sense of being in the depths of a giant …

Margaret Garcia, Tree of Califas

Tree of Califas

Artist(s):

Adjacent to the historic site of the Campo de Cahuenga where in 1847 Mexico relinquished control of California to the United States in the Treaty of Cahuenga, Tree of Califas draws its title from the the mythological black Amazon queen Califas who was said to have ruled a tribe of women warriors and after whom the Spaniards named California.

Terry Schoonhoven, Traveler

Traveler

Artist(s):

Traveler, a tile mural located at the bottom of the escalator at the east entrance of the subway station, depicts travelers from different eras in a Los Angeles “timescape” that features historical references such as Spanish galleons, the Pico House, Olvera Street and actress Carol Lombard.

Kipp Kobayashi, Noel Korten and Marta Perlas AIA, "Plantings"

Plantings

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The artist team- Kipp Kobayashi, Noel Korten and Marta Perlas, AIA – created seating environments that produce a strong visual and functional experience for Metro riders at 7th/Metro Center Station, influenced by historic Batchelder tiles in the nearby Fine Arts Building.

Tyree Guyton, People in Motion

People in Motion

Artist(s):

Tyree Guyton designed this artwork to evoke thought, create conversation and stimulate the observer to think about the most basic mode of transportation – the shoe.

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Artist(s):

Bob Zoell has abstracted the appearance and arrangement of typographic design symbols to create a bold and graphic series of ceramic tile murals. The artwork covers four columns at station platforms at Wilshire/Vermont Station.

Stephen Antonakos, Neons for Pershing Square

Neons for Pershing Square

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In 1924, the first neon sign in the United States was posted around the corner from Pershing Square. Commemorating this art form, neon artist Antonakos created Neons for Pershing Square, a series of neon sculptures suspended from the station’s high ceiling.

MacArthur Park site (1991-92)

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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.

Peter Shire," Los Angeles Seen" (station view)

Los Angeles Seen

Artist(s):

For the Wilshire/Vermont Station, Shire created Los Angeles Seen, a series of sculptures that float throughout the entrance conveying a theatrical, circus-like atmosphere.

Kinetic Flow

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Project Description George Legrady’s work consists of a series of vibrantly colored porcelain enamel steel panels, 14’ x 22’ 6” at the angled concrete wall above the staircase and escalator unit at the LA City College entrance of the station. The algorithmically generated abstract rendition uses statistical transit ridership data to create visual patterns. Artist Statement “The design concept for the image has been to engage the kinetic experience of the downward movement on both escalator and staircase and escalator, one smooth, the other sequential”. About the Artist GEORGE LEGRADY received a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute. Recent interactive installations have been exhibited at Ars Electronica, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. He has been awarded Creative Capital Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts grants. He currently holds a joint faculty appointment in the Media Arts & Technology graduate program and in the Department of Art of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Public Art commissions include the Seattle Public Library and Metro …

Into the Light

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In Statom’s work, Into the Light, five ordinary objects—house, ladder, leaf, cone and diamond—become extraordinary when suspended in the Westlake/MacArthur Park Station’s skylight area.

In the Living Rock

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Artist Samm Kunce’s artwork explores ideas gathered from science and literature. The celebration of inherent beauty of natural materials is a recurrent theme in her work. Kunce’s tile mural at the 1st and Hill St. entrance to the Civic Center station runs the length of the curved planter bed wall.

I Dreamed I Could Fly

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In a reflection of the universal motif of flight as spiritual journey, Jonathan Borofsky’s I Dreamed I Could Fly is an interpretation of the artist’s dreams of soaring above ground. The six fiberglass figures, all resembling the artist, hover and cast large shadows in the high bay area of Civic Center Station.