HISTORIC BRIDGES OVER THE LOS ANGELES RIVER
Victory – The Historic Bridges Over The Los Angeles is a cartographic representation of the Los Angeles River through Downtown Los Angeles, looking North, including Griffith and Elysian Parks as well as the Silverlake Reservoir, with stylized elements of each historic bridge traversing the terrain. As an amalgamation of the smaller pieces in my LA River series, there is a puzzle-like quality to Victory, a non-literal landscape or an abstracted panoramic map of the Los Angeles basin, providing hints of locations, but leaving the answers un-spoken.
At twelve feet tall, this painting has presence. My love of searching for existing buildings or my own location on old, panoramic maps shifted during the process of working on Victory. Instead of leaning over a book and tracing a path with my finger, twelve feet of painting leans over me, enveloping me, and declaring my presence in every inch of the composition. Likewise, it is fascinating to watch people identify with particular parts of the work, thereby understanding a location within a larger map of related monuments, which are (from North to South):
The Glendale Hyperion Viaduct, The Fletcher Drive Bridge, The Riverside Drive Bridge, The North Broadway Viaduct, The North Spring Street Viaduct, The Main Street Bridge, The Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct, The First Street Viaduct, The Fourth Street Viaduct, The Sixth Street Viaduct, The Seventh Street Viaduct, The Olympic Boulevard Viaduct, and The Washington Boulevard Bridge.
At twelve feet tall, this painting has presence. My love of searching for existing buildings or my own location on old, panoramic maps shifted during the process of working on Victory. Instead of leaning over a book and tracing a path with my finger, twelve feet of painting leans over me, enveloping me, and declaring my presence in every inch of the composition. Likewise, it is fascinating to watch people identify with particular parts of the work, thereby understanding a location within a larger map of related monuments, which are (from North to South):
The Glendale Hyperion Viaduct, The Fletcher Drive Bridge, The Riverside Drive Bridge, The North Broadway Viaduct, The North Spring Street Viaduct, The Main Street Bridge, The Cesar Chavez Avenue Viaduct, The First Street Viaduct, The Fourth Street Viaduct, The Sixth Street Viaduct, The Seventh Street Viaduct, The Olympic Boulevard Viaduct, and The Washington Boulevard Bridge.
