DESTINATION CRENSHAW PUBLIC ART
Preview of the Crenshaw Cultural Landmark
DESTINATION CRENSHAW, the most exciting community and cultural development project in Los Angeles, will transform 1.3 miles of the Crenshaw Boulevard district into a bold public art Cultural Landmark with 10 new community spaces, four acres of green space, and an urban canopy of 822 trees and 30,000 square feet of sustainable landscaping.
Anchored by the new Expo/Crenshaw Metro station and its three large-scale station artworks, DESTINATION CRENSHAW anticipates at least 100 sculptures and murals by emerging and internationally renowned Black artists by 2027. The first seven, recently announced, have bold and engaging design and form that reflect what DESTINATION CRENSHAW calls the community's own "cultural stamp."
In anticipation of DESTINATION CRENSHAW's completion in fall 2022, these first 10 are the Crenshaw District's inaugural public artworks.
Credit: Perkins & Will/Destination Crenshaw
"Car Culture" by Charles Dickson
Dickson 20-foot high painted stainless steel sculpture includes fiber optic lighting -- it depicts three West African Senufo figures anchoring a canopy of classic cars topped by an automobile engine. The sculpture's use of Senufo figures under a canopy of cars merges both distant and not-so-distant heritage -- the Senufo traditions of West Africa, and the Crenshaw area's lowrider car culture. 2 Dickson explains that "part of the (sculpture's) purpose is to empower community with some understanding of their cultural reference, of our African beginnings, and how that creativity expands into where we are today." "The Senufo figures are at a very prominent scale, which is very unique, and they're highly polished like the bumpers of a car."1 This work will be one of four Sankofa Park sculptures destined for a central grass area.
Credit: Perkins & Will/Destination Crenshaw
"Object of Curiosity, Radiating Love" by Maren Hassinger
This 6-foot diameter fiberglass orb, colored hot pink, will surprise and delight when folks see how it lights up its pink glow in response to nearby activity. Hassinger strives to convey the idea of love as "central to community members working together." 1 Designed with motion sensor-activated LED lighting, it will be one of four Sankofa Park sculptures destined for a central grass area.
Credit: Perkins & Will/Destination Crenshaw
untitled sculpture by Kehinde Wiley
Wiley's 27-foot high bronze sculpture depicts a young 21st century West African woman on horseback, headed into battle. This large bronze is part of Wiley's "Rumors of War" series that re-informs Confederate War monuments.3 According to Wiley, the sculpture is "an indictment of the ways in which African women have traditionally been viewed." "I wanted to expand this question of a struggle for representation."1 An earlier bronze from the same series, now at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, depicts a young Black man in a hoodie on horseback. This mammoth bronze will be one of four Sankofa Park sculptures destined for a central grass area.
Credit: Perkins & Will/Destination Crenshaw
"Emerging First Men" by Artis Lane
Artis Lane creates a 12-foot tall bronze sculpture of an upward looking male figure to symbolize hope and leadership. The figure is intended to represent all of humanity, its shared struggles and achievements. Viewing the Crenshaw district as a place where personal transformation is possible, Artis Lane includes in the installation the sculpture's ceramic mold on its exterior, to symbolize "a physical and spiritual birth into an understanding of purpose and possibility."1 Lane's large bronze will also be placed in Sankofa Park.
Credit: Perkins & Will/Destination Crenshaw
"I AM" by Brenna Youngblood
Brenna Youngblood's 8-foot square bronze sculpture is a building-block framework containing the words "I AM", which partners with her earlier 2011 sculpture "M.I.A." (part of LACMA's permanent collection). Using this word play to evoke ideas of identity, agency and self empowerment, Youngblood's work also echoes the civil rights movement and 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike signs that read "I AM A MAN."1 The sculpture shares its title with the new I AM Park at Slauson Avenue where it will be installed.
Credit: Perkins & Will/Destination Crenshaw
"Bearing Witness" by Alison Saar
Alison Saar's two-piece, 13-foot high sculptures together present a humorous image, rooted in the Crenshaw area's cultural past. Her cast bronze male and female forms are dressed in early 1960s attire and sport super tall hairdos or "conks" containing everyday objects that one might have found in local thrift stores (such as books, frying pan and trumpet).2 Saar's choice of hairdo items represents "the art, music and literature that define the (Crenshaw) area."1 The pair will be installed at a new 50th Street Park.
Credit: Perkins & Will/Destination Crenshaw
"Column" by Melvin Edwards
Edwards continues his series "Columns of Memory" with a 25-foot high sculpture of stainless steel chain-link that forms a column with an upwards twist. According to Edwards, the sculpture strives to symbolize "the struggle upward, toward a brighter future." Edwards also sees his "columns of memory" where memory is plural. "There are a lot of connections - between communities of people who lived and developed the area."1 This large sculpture is planned for midway along the Crenshaw corridor near 54th Street.
Station Art for the Expo/Crenshaw Station
This large transit station will host three new station art installations by separate artists, in addition to Buzz Spector's Crenshaw Stories (1995).
“At The Same Time” by Rebeca Méndez
Méndez will produce two large mosaic glass murals of atmospheric images from the Los Angeles sky across an entire day. The works will be installed along a station corridor leading to the platforms where the artist intends to provide an emotional respite from the travel experience: " “At the Same Time" can be understood as . . . [an] emotional timepiece . . . inspiring us to bring our mind and body as we experience, if just for a moment, the fullness of time expressed in the sky above us.” 4
"Layered Histories" by Jaime Scholnick
Scholnick, known for her frieze-like collages, will incorporate more than 11,800 photographs from the surrounding Crenshaw neighborhood that capture dawn-to-midnight images for her series of collage panels to be mounted on the walls of the rail corridor. Scholnick sought to ground her work in the Crenshaw community: "Speaking to the people of the community, getting a sense of what was important to them, was the crux of my idea and my inspiration." 5
"Inside Out - Outside In - Inside Out" by Erwin Redl
Redl presents an artistic enhancement to the exterior of the Expo/Crenshaw station's street-level entrance pavilion. The artist will use small glazed panels in sunburst arrays that will cast colorful reflections on the surrounding ground during the day, while being colorfully illuminated at night: “The pavilion becomes a colorful beacon signifying the vibrant activities of the neighborhood.”
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1 "Destination Crenshaw projects get city approval. What big names in Black art are making for L.A." by Deborah Vankin. Los Angeles Times, pp. E1, E3, October 13, 2021.
2 "Destination Crenshaw Moves Ahead With a First Round of Public Sculptures." by Jori Finkel. New York Times, October 13, 2021.
3 Destination Crenshaw, www.destinationcrenshaw.la/about/. Accessed 10/14/2021.
4 Metro Art, https://art.metro.net/artworks/at-the-same-time/. Accessed 10/15/2021.
5 Metro Art, https://art.metro.net/artworks/layered-histories/. Accessed 10/15/2021.