Client: The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)

Location: Los Angeles, CA, United States

Completion date: 2003

Artwork budget: $136,000

Project Team

Artist

Bob Zoell

Other

Susan Gray, Project Manager

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)

Industry Resource

Art Decal Co. long Beach CA

Art Decal Co. Long Beach CA

Overview

I explored language as an iconic foundation for the Red Line Station columns at Wilshire/Vermont in Los Angeles.

To be in love with language is to love not only collectively what letters and words can accomplish but to embrace the lonely letters themselves as being marks or symbols of esthetic beauty. In a more reductive vein, the same applies to the use of punctuation marks: when used in isolation these humble little helpers are transformed into a curious abstract iconography.

Goals

Project Goals: to create permanent public artwork which:

* Is of superior artistic merit
* Is site-specific
* Is engaging to transit riders
* Provides an improved and more attractive transit experience for travelers
* Is safe, made of highly permanent materials and requires minimal maintenance

Process

The custom glazing process uses the most durable materials for decorating tile for exterior use. The colors are actual glazes composed of the same fluxes and frits in the manufacture of tile. The art components are silk screen printed onto transfer paper and then applied to the tile. The decals on tiles are then fired in a kiln to a temperature of 1500 degrees F. which is a 7 hour process and will permanently bond the images to the tile. A total of 1500 sf of Buchtall Chroma porclain 8”x8” tiles were installed on four columns.