Urban Oasis © Sonia Romero 2009, hand-formed and -glazed ceramics, interior location, mezzanine level, Metro B Line (Red), Westlake/MacArthur Park Station, 660 S. Alvarado Street, MacArthur Park, Los Angeles CA
Commissioned by the Los Angeles Metro
Photos : © 2011 LACMTA
www.soniaromero.net/macarthur-park-westlake-metro-station
Sonia Romero created 13 artworks documenting her observations of MacArthur Park as an urban oasis.
Sonia’s designs reflect MacArthur Park as layered, diverse, and dramatic in simplified renderings drawn from observed park activities.
The ceramic mosaic tile mural is divided into 13 panels installed along two facing mezzanine walls representing both halves of the park separated by Wilshire Boulevard.
Each artwork contains a black and white tableau centred in a circle contained within a square panel.
The border space between circle and square is glazed in a cement gray colour to represent industrial building materials and includes alternating art deco motifs in the corners.
The motifs were discovered throughout the park and neighbourhood. Also included are significant historical buildings throughout the park’s 120-year history.
“I found the story of the park and its fluctuating energy stimulating and intriguing. I developed my concept around the idea that MacArthur Park is an urban oasis. It was my goal to create a public work, which celebrated the 120-year-old history of MacArthur Park and the people who make use of it.”
-Sonia Romero
www.art.metro.net/artworks/macarthur-park-urban-oasis/
www.publicartinpublicplaces.info/macarthur-park-urban-oasis-2010-by-sonia-romero