Red Line Art : Metro Rail passengers will be treated to a delightful mix of permanently installed, site-specific artwork by distinguished artists

Early next year, the first leg of the Metro Red Line subway system will be up and running. Although it lacks the thrills and chills of Disneyland’s Space Mountain, a ride on it nonetheless evokes the joys of traveling through space.

Known as Segment 1, this 4.4-mile stretch of the subway line that will eventually end in North Hollywood runs from Union Station to the MacArthur Park area. It connects with the Blue Line--the aboveground light-rail line that runs from downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach--in the 7th Street/Metro Center station. Scheduled to open in March, it could begin service as early as January.

On a recent preview ride on the rails of Segment 1--conducted primarily for civic groups and people who have been involved with the Metro Rail program--part of the fun was gliding along tracks embedded in the middle of this die-hard automobile metropolis and envisioning a future where it could be possible to leave one’s car and clogged freeways behind.

Art enthusiasts also will have the opportunity to take an unusual public art tour. Going from one subway station to the next, they can view a delightful mix of permanently installed, site-specific artwork by distinguished artists, most of them Californians.

“This is a turning point for the city to have all this transit. There’s so much art incorporated in it, and it’s going to be so visible,” said Mary K. Hamilton, a project manager for the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission’s Art for Rail Transit program. She supervises the art projects along Segment 1 of the Red Line.

The public can get a preview of what’s to come along the first leg of the Red Line at the Art Store Gallery in West Los Angeles. It is presenting “Metro Red Line, Segment 1 Public Art Projects,” a series of photographs of the artwork that will grace five subway stations.

Additionally, the exhibit includes a map of the Westside showing a proposed 30-year plan for mass transit in the area. It represents one of the first opportunities for residents to see the bus, light rail and subway routes under consideration for the Westside.

The murals, sculptures and installations of Segment 1 are part of one of the most extensive public art programs in the country. The transportation commission’s public art policy allocates one-half of 1% of the construction cost of the 150-mile rail transit system for the creation of works of art along the rail lines. Each piece reflects the artist’s interpretations of Los Angeles and the community surrounding the station in particular.

“We want an ultramodern, ultra-convenient, ultra-safe system that has an identity throughout it,” said Jessica Cusick, director of the transportation commission’s Art for Rail Transit program. “We are linking this city in a lot of ways that have not been done before. Art provides cultural linkages.

“But each station should have a different feeling. It is particularly important to my program that we honor the community in which it’s located. It is open to architects and artists to interpret information about the community that they get from a community advisory group and their own research, and then explore whatever avenue responds to their own sensitivity.”

Michelle Isenberg, an art consultant, educator and curator who organizes exhibits in seven Art Store galleries, invited Art for Rail Transit to set up the display in the West Los Angeles store to give exposure to this “exceptional public art program,” she said.

“Our galleries are community service galleries,” Isenberg said. “They inform artists who come in to buy paint and brushes about work being done by artists in different areas--public artwork, fashion design, photography.

“I served on artist selection panels for two stations on the Blue Line. I saw the process, and how Jessica Cusick and her team follow through with the artist every step of the way. They are able to get from the artists their best work.”

About 2 1/2 years ago, the transportation commission, which was originally in charge of building only the Blue Line and the Green Line, took over construction of the Red Line from the Southern California Rapid Transit District, and the development of the art program it had begun. Most of the artists who contributed to Segment 1 were commissioned by the transit district’s program. However, the implementation of their work occurred under Cusick’s Art for Rail Transit program.

Three artists have created pieces for the Red Line’s Union Station subway, which was designed to complement the landmark train station.

Christopher Sproat’s big, bulky “Union Chairs,” functional benches to be located on the subway station platform, were inspired by the leather chairs in the old station. Made out of granite, their colors--red, black and white--are the colors of the old station’s stonework floor.

Terry Schoonhoven’s “Traveler,” a 10-by-26-foot glazed ceramic-tile time machine, will hang in the east entrance of the station. Featuring historical references to Los Angeles from three centuries, it will take today’s commuter on a trip from the days of Spanish galleons to the Golden Age of Hollywood when actress Carole Lombard could have passed through Union Station.

In this station’s west entrance--which connects the old station with the subway station--angels’ wings will hover over the Santa Monica Bay in Cynthia Carlson’s hand-painted aluminum, sculptural mural, “City of Angels.” Eleven angel wings, each one named for an angel, represent the 11 founding families of Los Angeles.

Jonathan Borofsky’s flying dreams inspired his work for the Civic Center station. Six nearly life-size fiberglass figures, all resembling the artist, soar just below the station’s ceiling, casting large shadows upon it.

“Neons for Pershing Square Station” by Stephen Antonakos, 12 neon sculptures in geometric shapes, have been suspended from the ceiling and attached to columns. The pieces infuse the station with a colorful energy reflective of the hustle and bustle in the nearby area, which includes the Biltmore Hotel, the Jewelry Mart and Grand Central Market.

The 7th Street/Metro Center station contains two 2-by-110-foot murals by Joyce Kozloff designed to resemble a film strip and illustrate her interpretations of movie history. “Fantasies,” a mostly black-and-white mural on view on the west mezzanine, features creatures such as Dracula, the Phantom of the Opera and the Joker. A more colorful mural called “Spectacles” will include images from movies such as “Cleopatra,” “Moby Dick” and “The Bridge on the River Kwai.”

Now in the Hope Street entrance to this station, Roberto Gil de Montes’ surrealistic “Heaven to Earth” consists of three ceramic-tile murals depicting first the star-filled heavens, then colorful birds, and finally organic earth as commuters descend into the subway station. Handmade ceramic frames surround the mural with relief work depicting people and cultural artifacts of our time and centuries ago.

“They are an allegory of Los Angeles and our current transformations,” Cusick said.

The Westlake/MacArthur Park station will reflect the Latino culture of that area with two ceramic-tile murals by Chilean artist Francisco Letelier, who lives and works in Santa Monica. Intense reds, blues and yellows dominate in “El Sol” and “La Luna,” which contain bold images of people and references to the history of the area and its landmarks, including the Westlake Theatre.

Therman Statom’s as-yet-unnamed project will be suspended in a skylight in the center of this station. A ladder, a house, a leaf, a cone and a diamond made out of steel, copper and glass will hang as if they had been tossed up in a tornado or vortex. The skylight will be lined with yellow tile. The ladder will be covered in dichroic blue and yellow glass, so when the light hits it, there will be all kinds of refraction.

Artists commissioned after the transportation commission took over the Red Line’s art program have had the opportunity to work with architects on the station’s initial design. Gilbert Lujan and architects Miralles Associates Inc. have incorporated the star motif into the floor and light fixture design of the Hollywood/Vine station. A yellow brick road will invite commuters into the station.

May Sun spent three months in the offices of Escudero-Fribourg Architects, collaborating with Paul Diez on integrating her work into the design of the Hollywood/Western station. It pays tribute to the mestizo heritage of the original settlement, and to recent immigrants to the area.

Among large photo panels planned for the walls--presenting multiracial workers who built the railroads in the 1800s juxtaposed with pictures of workers who will build the subway station--will be visual symbols on tiles inlaid in the floor that represent different ethnic backgrounds, and the basic elements of fire, earth, water and air. Large images of primitive animals, such as the cougar that once roamed the area, will be part of the floor’s design.

These Hollywood area stations are scheduled to open in 1998.

“What Jessica Cusick and her team have done for Los Angeles is incredible,” Isenberg said. “This is one of the country’s most outstanding public art programs.”