Posts tagged los angeles
My friend Gerard took this one on our recent flight. I learned to drive in L.A. and my first regular commute was going up and down the 405 from the Getty to Long Beach. I hated it especially those foggy mornings where I couldn’t see 10 feet forward yet everyone is still going 70. But from up in the sky, that road is pure poetry.
This past Monday I took a helicopter tour over the Expo line site in West Los Angeles for my upcoming public art project at the Sepulveda station. The station will have 8 large art panels which will be drawings of aerial views of the area, designed by me.
In this photo, you can see where the train track is going to be on the left hand side.
We had a hard time getting to the site via helicopter as it is direct line with the landing traffic at the Santa Monica airport. Plus it was windy as hell, especially with the doors of the helicopter off.
We got some great shots. I’ll post more later.
Train tracks from Metro Headquarters conference room.
James Doolin mural at Metro headquarters. I really didn’t do it justice with this snapshot. It’s a pretty amazing piece.
Van Nuys, 23” x 55”, colored pencil on paper, 2013
Doing some research for a potential public art project took me deep into the valley where there are still some pretty amazing Art Deco buildings.
I love the font on the door handles.
Freeway On and Off Ramps, 18” x 24”, colored pencil on paper, 2013
Doing some more night drawings. 10 freeway on and off ramps.
I’m very excited to announce that I will be creating a permanent piece (actually 8 large panels) for one of the new Metro stations on the Expo Line here in L.A.!
These photographs are ones I took last November (on Election Day actually) above Santa Monica. I actually am a total scaredy cat when it comes to heights but as long as I have a job to do up there, I’m alright. When the pilot banked over the ocean though, I have to say my stomach dropped all the way to the ocean floor.
This was the first flight I ever took with the doors of the helicopter off. It’s kind of like riding in a jeep 1000 feet off the ground, going 100 miles an hour. You aren’t allowed to have cell phones or change or anything in your pockets or hands. If you drop even something small, you can kill someone. At the end of the flight we all had a fine layer of grit on our faces.
We also got to fly over LAX twice as the airport we flew out of was in Hawthorne. The pilot has to wait for clearance before passing over and on the way back (when the gas gauge was almost empty) no one was answering the phone and we had to circle and circle for what felt like forever.
Quick shout out to Ryan with Star Helicopters who flew us on this amazing flight. I’ve done my homework and in terms of price and service they are way above everyone else.
I love this piece on the Los Angeles Metro at the 7th and Flower by Joyce Kozloff.
Last time I was there I had to wait about 45 minutes and since there’s no cell phone service under there, this piece was a welcome and fun distraction. It goes on endlessly. The monsters were my favorite. They are so expressive.
