"Spine" (1993) by Jud Fine

DESCRIPTION: street entrance panels (Flower Street entrance), stairway design with etched risers, granite sculptures, and tiered fountains:
  • etched aluminum, rock and wood street-entrance panels
  • stairway risers with etched lettering in nineteen languages, words in nine languages, and symbolic communications from mathematics, art and poetry
  • 3 cast bronze and granite boulder sculptures mounted within rectilinear pools
  • 3 semi-circular bronze and stone fountains etched with symbols and representing the ideas of "BRIGHT", "LUCID", and "CLEAR"

Artist's statement: "Spine is a title which brings several confluent ideas to mind. The spine is the fundamental unit of a body that gives it the strength and support to stand on its own. The spine begins where the brain leaves off. The electricity of the body flows through it. Fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are all classified together due to the commonality of the spine. Structurally, the spine also refers to the anatomy of the book. A book is identified by the name running down its spine. The spine separates the front from the back, and at the same time it hinges them together. It is the central nervous system of the book."

street-entrance panels
LOCATION: stairs leading to library west entrance, Maguire Gardens, Central Library, 630 W. Fifth Street, Historic Core, Los Angeles, California, USA
stairway risers
bronze and granite sculptures within rectilinear pools