LOS ANGELES RIVER SERIES #29
Los Angeles River Series #29
Vineland Avenue Overpass
San Fernando Valley
Oil on Canvas 24”x 30”x 1.5”
Los Angeles River Series #29
(2020)
Less than a mile from the hustle and bustle of the touristic theme park Universal Studios and the chic shops of the Silver Triangle lies the Vineland Avenue Los Angeles River overpass. Unremarkable by any definition, the Vineland Avenue Bridge over the Los Angeles River is unlikely to be identifiable or remembered by anyone. Indeed, most people who traverse the span would never know they were on a bridge crossing a vital river that 150 years prior made life possible in the city of Los Angeles.
In Painting 29 Vineland Avenue Overpass, concrete, walls, roads and a submerged Los Angeles River are portrayed in warm tones of olive-sage, ochre, yellow and brown, their oblique angles and acute shapes divide the canvas into distinct and separate muted forms as definitively does the City of Angel’s sprawl and highways divide communities into separate suburbs. Oddly though, something ties the composition together. What is it? It is the color. Each has a bit of the other in its blood, like generations of a people, most from somewhere else, the colors forming intermingled relationships that bind together the whole even as some shapes, colors and people seem resolute in maintaining separation.
Like the colors we see in this painting, people’s lives and the collective actions of society are inextricably linked. In this canvas we call Earth, our rivers, our relationships, both urban and distant, abused and healed, ultimately are the source of the water we drink and the communal food we consume for our souls. It is the color in our lives and relationships that bring us joy, sorrow, peace and meaning. Our life-blood and our futures are co-mingled. We and our brothers and sisters are a collective living composition. Some slow down enough to observe and become mindful of what they see, of what is. Some will act according to how their Universal Composer moves them. Others continue on their own trajectory driven by unseen forces. In ways small and large whatever the outcome, it will be shared by all along the Los Angeles River.
If you are interested in this painting, you can view more details in the
Store. If you would like to learn more about the City of Los Angeles' River Project, explore the links below.
More on the Los Angeles Revitalization Project
An interactive map that highlights a number of the developments planned and occurring along the Los Angeles River.
Home of the Los Angles River Project, an organization dedicated to restoring the vital ecosystem along the river.
