I am excited to invite you to the opening reception of Positively 4th Street: An Encounter with Los Angeles’ 4th Street Viaduct on Saturday, January 27 from 3 to 6 pm at the Don B. Huntley Gallery located on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona. It features drawings and paintings by Roderick Smith and Richard Willson, and an insightful essay by one of Southern California’s preeminent interpreters, D.J. Waldie.
Excerpt from Exhibition:
“Caught between Los Angeles’ past and future, the Fourth Street Viaduct of 1931 is an enduring artifact in a community of enormous flux. Bridging the Los Angeles River, it spans railroad tracks and industry, almost half a mile in length. Its grandiose Gothic Revival architecture contrasts with the unadorned flood-control channel beneath it. As Angelenos debate river revitalization and the gentrification of Boyle Heights and the Arts District, the viaduct is a stoic artifact. Yet, at the same time, it leaps and vaults.
We are two visual artists and a writer-artist whose interpretations are based on a shared instinct for poetic realism. Recognizing what the viaduct meant to the civic leaders who built it, we accept the pathos of that past but seek reconciliation with what is now ours. The viaduct revealed its iconic symbols and meanings as we explored.”
Cal Poly Pomona Don B. Huntley Gallery
3801 West Temple Avenue
Building 15, 4th Floor, Room 4435
Pomona, CA 91768
Phone: (909) 869-4302
Hours:
Mon-Tues & Sat-Sun: 12-4pm / Wed-Thurs: 4-8pm / Closed Friday
Note from Lisa: Admire and support everybody in this exhibition, but it is a manel, and I wish it weren’t. That said, please do stop in if you can, as these are quite cool men with many interesting ideas.