Counter/Balance (2006)
Michael Davis
DESCRIPTION: 28.75-foot high by 30-inch wide by 24-inch deep galvanized and painted steel and aluminum sculpture with etched glass, incorporating a 14-foot high stainless steel replica of a Los Angeles Fire Department ladder
Artist's statement: "On the artwork, two vertical columns of galvanized steel reference the [Vincent Thomas] bridge. Each rising twenty feet, side by side, the columns are connected midway with a double-X truss. At the apex and between the columns, a fourteen-foot stainless steel replica of an LAFD ladder balances at its center rung, rising another seven feet above. The ladder here is a complex sign. It is the means by which fire personnel reach a seemingly impossible, dangerous position, to extinguish a blaze or save a life. It is able to move but gravitationally continues to find a balance point. The movement and centering of the ladder is like the duality of being a fire fighter with two families–one, your brothers and sisters in the station, and the other, your family at home. The counter balance is the commitment to both. At the base of the two columns, the tail endplate form of a fire apparatus allows each viewer to grab hold of the handles and hop on, imagining a ride of exaltation and awesome responsibility." - Michael Davis
Artist's statement: "On the artwork, two vertical columns of galvanized steel reference the [Vincent Thomas] bridge. Each rising twenty feet, side by side, the columns are connected midway with a double-X truss. At the apex and between the columns, a fourteen-foot stainless steel replica of an LAFD ladder balances at its center rung, rising another seven feet above. The ladder here is a complex sign. It is the means by which fire personnel reach a seemingly impossible, dangerous position, to extinguish a blaze or save a life. It is able to move but gravitationally continues to find a balance point. The movement and centering of the ladder is like the duality of being a fire fighter with two families–one, your brothers and sisters in the station, and the other, your family at home. The counter balance is the commitment to both. At the base of the two columns, the tail endplate form of a fire apparatus allows each viewer to grab hold of the handles and hop on, imagining a ride of exaltation and awesome responsibility." - Michael Davis
LOCATION: Los Angeles City Fire Station 36, 1005 N. Gaffey Street, San Pedro, California, USA
