Client: Los Angeles Metro Transit Authority

Location: South Pasadena, CA, United States

Completion date: 2003

Project Team

Artist

Michael Stutz

Michael Stutz

Industry Resource

Carlson & Company

Carlson & Company Fabricator

Client

City Of South Pasadena /Metro Transit Authority

Overview

"Astride-Aside" is a project for the Gold Line Transit Authority's Mission Street Station
in South Pasadena. The image of a ten feet tall walking figure, in ordinary dress,
relates to all who pass through the site, and accentuates the pedestrian nature of the
Mission Street area. The walker’s placement atop antique granite blocks that were once part of a rail
bridge, integrates smoothly with the existing historic monuments and literally builds
upon the foundation of the past.

Goals

The site has an ambiance unexpected in the Los Angeles area. Late Victorian buildings, rough hewn historic monuments, a museum to the city's past, are all a part of the area. It was important to play upon the past, but with a contemporary language as seen in the woven construction of the sculpture. The installation includes a plaza and “green belt,” bringing the grass of the adjacent park to the front of the station entrance. The intent was to show South Pasadena as a place that has it's own identity and sense of time within the LA Metro area.

Process

The artist worked with South Pasadena business, political, and citizen groups, and the art consultant, landscape architecture, construction, and engineering teams for the MTA.

Additional Information

This project was completed in January 2003.