{"id":475326,"date":"2026-05-08T21:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/475326\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T21:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:06:22","slug":"meet-4-artists-behind-public-art-youll-see-at-metros-d-line-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/475326\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet 4 artists behind public art you’ll see at Metro’s D Line stations"},"content":{"rendered":"

L.A. Metro\u2019s three new D line extension stations feature nine public artworks <\/p>\n

Art deco motifs, fossils and massive drawings of hands are among the installations that will greet riders passing through the three new stations on L.A. Metro\u2019s D Line extension.<\/p>\n

The underground subway stations, which connect downtown Los Angeles to Beverly Hills, are home to nine site-specific artworks by Mariana Castillo Deball, Eamon Ore-Giron, Ken Gonzales-Day, Todd Gray, Karl Haendel, Soo Kim, Fran Siegel, Susan Silton and Mark Dean Veca.<\/p>\n

The goal was to make the new public art a \u201cworld-class experience\u201d for riders \u2014 one that matched the caliber of the acclaimed museums the new subway route makes accessible along Wilshire Boulevard, said Metro deputy executive officer Zipporah Yamamoto, who leads the agency\u2019s public art program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you walk through the stations, you\u2019re basically walking through a series of immersive artworks on every single level,\u201d Yamamoto said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like hanging paintings above a sofa \u2026 where the art comes in at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Participating artists did not have to reside in Los Angeles, but their projects had to respond to the station\u2019s location, history and culture and include a community engagement component.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout artwork that is specific in its reference to place, all the stations would look the same,\u201d Yamamoto said, adding that she hopes the art will encourage riders to explore a neighborhood further. <\/p>\n

Metal placards installed near each piece feature a scannable QR code that reveals more about the artist.<\/p>\n

The competitive selection process began roughly a decade ago, Yamamoto said. More than 1,200 people responded to the agency\u2019s call for artists. Finalists were paid to develop proposals that were judged by a panel of art professionals including curators from the museums along Miracle Mile.<\/p>\n

Metro\u2019s art program is primarily funded by a 0.5% budget set aside from construction costs allotted for new transit projects, according to spokesperson Missy Colman.<\/p>\n

Metro plans to open the D Line extension in three phases, with a goal of completing the full route by fall 2027<\/a>. When finished, it will include seven new stations and connect Koreatown to Westwood.<\/p>\n

The first phase opened Friday and includes the Wilshire\/La Brea, Wilshire\/Fairfax and Wilshire\/La Cienega stations. <\/p>\n

The Times spoke with four artists whose work will be inside.<\/p>\n

Eamon Ore-Giron \"Artist <\/p>\n

Artist Eamon Ore-Giron stands in front of his artwork at the Wilshire\/La Brea Metro station on Friday, May 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

A series of converging yellow rays brighten the Wilshire\/La Brea station. <\/p>\n

Echo Park-based artist Eamon Ore-Giron\u2019s \u201cInfinite Landscape: Los \u00c1ngeles Para Siempre\u201d uses forced perspective to trick viewers into feeling like they are being pulled in or out of a portal. <\/p>\n

Ore-Giron was born and raised in Tucson and has lived in Mexico City, San Francisco and Guadalajara. He completed a master\u2019s degree in fine arts at UCLA, and his work has been featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. <\/p>\n

Circular patterns, placed on abstract \u201ctracks,\u201d represent transit riders. <\/p>\n

Ore-Giron has long viewed the subway as a \u201cmagical portal.\u201d He has fond memories of taking the Madrid Metro with his siblings and of the excitement and slight fear he felt as he watched the train lights emerge from darkness. As a young person without a car, transit opened up the city, he said.<\/p>\n

His work reflects on the history of Miracle Mile. In the 1920s, Art Deco buildings rose along Wilshire Boulevard as the street transformed from a remote dirt path into a bustling, car-oriented commercial district. The structure\u2019s bold designs were meant to catch the eyes of drivers.<\/p>\n

\"Artist \" <\/p>\n

Two views of artist Eamon Ore-Giron\u2019s artwork at the Wilshire\/La Brea Metro station.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Ore-Giron\u2019s work aims to connect L.A.\u2019s past with the future and reframe the site\u2019s car-centric history for pedestrians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis [Metro] expansion in a lot of ways is the next step in Los Angeles evolving into a more densely urban city, moving out of an era of the car-dominant culture,\u201d Ore-Giron said.<\/p>\n

Ore-Giron said he was also drawn to the Art Deco style because of the international dialogue it represented. In crafting what was then the style of the future, the architects at the time were influenced by Egyptian and Maya motifs. <\/p>\n

The color palette consists of hues commonly found in Art Deco architecture, including muted green, sapphire and ruby.<\/p>\n

He considered using gold. The metallic color is a signature part of his well-known \u201cInfinite Regress\u201d paintings, and it is often seen in Art Deco building details. But he decided it would feel like \u201ctoo much\u201d in a subway station, and instead chose a softer yellow.<\/p>\n

\"Artist <\/p>\n

Artist Eamon Ore-Giron\u2019s artwork at the Wilshire\/La Brea Metro station.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

The colors also evoke hazy Los Angeles skies, hills and buildings seen from a distance. Much is left to the viewer\u2019s interpretation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could think of it as the subconscious idea of the architecture of L.A.,\u201d Ore-Giron offered.<\/p>\n

Fran Siegel \" <\/p>\n

Artist Fran Siegel stands in front of her artwork at the Wilshire\/La Brea Metro station on Friday, May 1, 2026, in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

San Pedro-based artist Fran Siegel spent a year and a half taking long walks along Wilshire Boulevard to create her project, called \u201cRe: Orientation,\u201d for Metro.<\/p>\n

Siegel said she was on the same stretch of road so often that people began to wonder if she was a location scout.<\/p>\n

What she was really looking for was light. With a camera in tow, Siegel traversed the street at different times of the day, and she noticed that as the day waned, sunlight would bounce from one building to another, casting ghostly projections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were like little miracles,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Siegel has received two Fulbright awards to conduct research in Brazil and Lisbon, Portugal. A former art professor at Cal State Long Beach, her work has been featured in the Getty\u2019s Pacific Standard Time exhibitions. <\/p>\n

\"Artist \"Artist <\/p>\n

Two views of artist Fran Siegel\u2019s artwork at the Wilshire\/La Brea Metro station.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Siegel came up with the idea for \u201cRe: Orientation\u201d as she studied a map of Los Angeles and noticed the clashing street grids. Downtown Los Angeles\u2019 street grid is diagonal<\/a>, a legacy of Spanish rule. West of Hoover Street, the grid reorients itself, straightening into an American-style street grid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw that the sun rises and sets on Wilshire Boulevard because it\u2019s a complete East-West access street,\u201d Siegel said. \u201cI was really fascinated with seeing it all as a clock.\u201d<\/p>\n

The massive collage occupies both sides of the concourse at Wilshire\/La Brea and plays with time, place and light. <\/p>\n

It features Siegel\u2019s photographs, which were taken through dichroic lenses, and scans of ink drawings on rice paper. She hopes the artwork, which she designed to be slowly read, will encourage people to see Wilshire Boulevard in a new light.<\/p>\n

\"Artist <\/p>\n

Artist Fran Siegel stands in front of her artwork at the Wilshire\/La Brea Metro station.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

During one visit, riders might notice Siegel\u2019s photograph of a mammoth tusk \u2014 a fossil uncovered by crews during construction of the station. On another, viewers might linger on a picture of dirt, which Siegel captured during a trip 120 feet underground while the station was under construction. Or they might recognize the Feng Shui Yundo culled from the nearby Korean Cultural Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy not just showing snapshots of the place, but \u2026 making a composition out of it, they could see that all these things form together into an experience of one place,\u201d Siegel said.<\/p>\n

Karl Haendel \" <\/p>\n

Artist Karl Haendel stands in front of his work inside the Wilshire\/Fairfax Metro station on Friday, May 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Artist Karl Haendel, from L.A.\u2019s Mount Washington neighborhood, considers himself a \u201chandmade labor fetishist.\u201d<\/p>\n

His artwork \u201cHands and Things,\u201d which spans the entrance and middle levels of the Wilshire\/Fairfax station, features photos and photorealistic pencil drawings of the hands of more than 30 people who lived or worked around the station.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in touch, activity, humanness \u2014 the character of being alive and human \u2014 and connection,\u201d said Haendel, who grew up on the East Coast and completed a master\u2019s of fine art at UCLA. <\/p>\n

Haendel\u2019s work is in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. <\/p>\n

He wanted to capture portraits of people\u2019s hands to highlight craftsmanship and labor. Unlike with faces, viewers don\u2019t judge hands by conventional beauty standards, Haendel said.<\/p>\n

Haendel and his assistant knocked on doors and visited local businesses to find community members willing to accompany them to museums and cultural institutions and participate in the project.<\/p>\n

Each hand is seen interacting with an object sourced from a number of surrounding museums and cultural institutions, including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Holocaust Museum LA.<\/p>\n

Hancock Park Elementary Principal Ashley Parker, for instance, holds a shovel dripping with tar from the La Brea Tar Pits. Tenagne Belachew, chef at Lalibela, an Ethiopian restaurant on Fairfax Avenue, holds a traditional Ethiopian coffeepot. El Rey Theatre projectionist Tori Yorochko hoists a scepter prop that was featured in the 1963 movie \u201cCleopatra\u201d starring Elizabeth Taylor.<\/p>\n

\"Artist <\/p>\n

Artist Karl Haendel\u2019s work inside the Wilshire\/Fairfax Metro station.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Haendel asked participants to interact with the objects in playful and investigative ways. He tweaked the images, removing plastic gloves and flipping objects like a vase sideways to make for a more engaging composition.<\/p>\n

Documentary filmmaker Reginald Turner, a board member of Pan Pacific Park, wears a metal gear from the Petersen Automotive Museum on his index finger like a ring. Renee Weitzer, who spent over three decades working at Los Angeles City Hall, grasps onto the leg of a Mattel-designed Ken doll from LACMA\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n

Haendel, who is colorblind, said he initially planned for the entire work to be drawn in pencil and in grayscale, like much of his other work. He incorporated the colorful reference photographs into the final piece after Metro staff encouraged him to make the piece more uplifting.<\/p>\n

Making art for a gallery or museum means more creative control. But when it comes to creating public art, Haendel said, \u201cI\u2019m of service to the community.\u201d He said he tried to take into consideration the Metro workers and transit riders and other community members who would see the piece every day.<\/p>\n

\"Artist <\/p>\n

Artist Karl Haendel\u2019s work inside the Wilshire\/Fairfax Metro station.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good shift in perspective and it forces a kind of humility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Haendel said he hopes his work makes ordinary moments like waiting for a train a little more interesting and sparks people\u2019s curiosity about the neighborhood\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe they want to go into these museums around here,\u201d Haendel said. \u201cMaybe they want to go to LACMA after seeing this very cool alarm clock. Maybe they want to go to the Holocaust Museum after [wondering] \u2018what is this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Todd Gray \"Artist <\/p>\n

Artist Todd Gray sits in front of his work inside the Wilshire\/La Cienega Metro station on Friday, May 1, 2026, in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

The glass walls of the Wilshire\/La Cienega station are blue because of an accident, according to Los Angeles photo-artist Todd Gray.<\/p>\n

In \u201cMining the Archives: S. Charles Lee, Architect,\u201d Gray placed original preliminary architectural sketches of nearby Saban Theatre alongside historic photographs of the theater taken after it was built.<\/p>\n

Gray, who grew up near the Fairfax District, often admired the exterior of the Fox Wilshire movie palace, now the Saban Theatre. (He was not a movie buff, so he seldom went in.)<\/p>\n

\"Artist <\/p>\n

Artist Todd Gray\u2019s work inside the Wilshire\/La Cienega Metro station.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Gray\u2019s interest in the theater led him to UCLA\u2019s extensive archive of papers by prolific Los Angeles architect S. Charles Lee<\/a>, who was credited with designing more than 400 theaters globally. There, he found Lee\u2019s detailed hand-drawn sketches of the building and its interior.<\/p>\n

As Gray worked with old, yellowing scans of Lee\u2019s drawings in Photoshop, he accidentally inverted the colors. The result\u2014white ink against a deep blue background\u2014reminded him of architectural blueprints. He leaned into the concept.<\/p>\n

Gray is known for his layered photographic compositions, including his recent piece \u201cOctavia\u2019s Gaze<\/a>,\u201d a commission for LACMA\u2019s new David Geffen Galleries.<\/p>\n

Photographs are supposed to be objective, he said. Yet their meanings can be altered simply by changing context or editing a caption.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like to do by covering things is make the photograph a question,\u201d Gray said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s not stating an irrefutable fact \u2026 viewers will [wonder] what\u2019s behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" <\/p>\n

Artist Todd Gray lies down in front of his work inside the Wilshire\/La Cienega Metro station.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

A series of colorful circles overlay Lee\u2019s ink sketches. These circles, Gray explained, are cropped photos of textiles from Mexico, Guatemala and Japan that he found at fabric shops around Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

They are meant to acknowledge the presence of the minority communities that were allowed to work, but not live, in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted [them] to be welcome in here,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n

\"Artist <\/p>\n

Artist Todd Gray\u2019s work inside the Wilshire\/La Cienega Metro station.<\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"L.A. Metro\u2019s three new D line extension stations feature nine public artworks Art deco motifs, fossils and massive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[595,18890,365,362,363,364,366,18,117,208277,208278,27127,5489,19,17,18985,710,13516,208279,237,9114,133652,55333,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-475326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-artist","10":"tag-arts","11":"tag-arts-and-design","12":"tag-artsanddesign","13":"tag-artsdesign","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-eire","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-fran-siegel","18":"tag-haendel","19":"tag-hand","20":"tag-history","21":"tag-ie","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-los-angeles-times","24":"tag-metro","25":"tag-museum","26":"tag-ore-giron","27":"tag-people","28":"tag-station","29":"tag-viewer","30":"tag-wilshire-boulevard","31":"tag-work"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116540997260494931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}