Following the tour of the Medallion's interior plaza at Main and 4th Street, here's a look at the permanent art piece that will hang above the park. Designed by Los Angeles-based art and design studio Electroland, and modeled after a lotus flower, the piece is scheduled to go up next week, according to Cameron McNall, principal at Electroland. Is that rendering to scale, you may ask? Why yes it is.
The piece weighs 1,500 pounds, is 36 feet in diameter, and will be suspended by seven cables. Visible during the day, the flower will change colors at night, when LED lights shine on it. Will it hover outside residents' windows like some sort of mutant jellyfish? Not clear. It will be visible from numerous vantage points, according to McNall, including along 4th and Main streets.
Electroland, which also did the blinking light display at Met Lofts, took inspiration from a lotus flower because the flower is a symbol of re-birth, and "historic core is being reborn," says McNall.
Meanwhile, McNall has some complaints about getting large-scale art projects approved in this city. Mr. McNall, you have the floor. "You have to go to Building and Safety and they don't know how to classify it," he says. "They don't know whether to call it signage...or what." He says he had to get 24 signatures from different agencies for the piece, and notably, had to get a sign-off (and pay a fee) for Handicap Accessibility, which he finds ridiculous, given that this is a "suspended stainless steel art piece."
The piece will go up on Monday or Tuesday.
More images:
· Medallion Archives [Curbed LA]
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