Artist Peter Shire unveils his gateway to North Hollywood
Anyone cruising down Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood will notice a colorful addition to the street's already-bustling arts scene: a new public sculpture by L.A. artist Peter Shire at the intersection of Lankershim and Huston Street.
The NoHo Gateway is a large-scale, overhead street-span construction made mostly of steel. At the center, Shire has spelled out "NoHo," which will be illuminated at night. He has painted the gateway bright yellow and decorated it with characters who work behind the scenes in the movie and television industry.
Shire's design was chosen from a field of 60 artists who submitted proposals for the project in 2000. The NoHo Arts Council said the goal of the installation was to improve the street's appeal. The finished product also had to be publicly accessible and engineered for practical maintenance.
Based in Echo Park, Shire is best known for his ceramic and metallic sculptures. His work is in the collections of more than 40 museums, including LACMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2008, an outdoor exhibition of six of Shire's large-scale sculptures opened on Santa Monica Boulevard.
"I am a maker of things, a hand-skills guy," Shire told The Times in 2007. "[There] is no separation between art and craft. They are all one, and a daily living experience is worthy of aesthetic consideration."
-- David Ng
Photo: Peter Shire's NoHo Gateway. Credit: NoHo Arts
What color pallette? Yellow, grey and red makes rich harmony? What a fool, its already dried out looking, just imagine what it will look like when sun dried and covered with soot and dirt. Ugly. shallow, no line, no harmony, no rhythm, see Mickey mouse ears though. I got a show out there in a coupla months running over a years time, I gotta check this monstrosity out. And culver City is covered with only vanity galleriesw, rich kids who want their names on the walls, so they dont ahve to go get real jobs. Thanks dad.
Colorists from Gauguin, Matisse, and even later Hockney must be turning in their graves, maybe why Hockney returned to England, though their art is maybe even worse than ours. Waht na self absorbed and glorifying rant you put on as an infomerciaql, how about writing a real art criticism? Or are you like those fake reviewers who are used to pump up movies, as art is like a grossly inferior reflection of film here in LA.
Yech.
art collegia delenda est
Another waste of public funds on erector set art. It aint exactly Calder.
Posted by: Donald Frazell | July 10, 2009 at 10:38 AM
Critics called Eiffel's design for a tower to commemorate the fallen of the French Revolution, an eyesore and predicted that the Tower would cost too much to build. But it was built on time, under budget and, since it opened the international exposition in Paris, has been one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.
Shire's "NOHO Gateway" is quite in keeping not only with the history but also the spirit of the industry that it seeks to honor. Perhaps if there's a Ms. NOHO beauty contest, the winner's tiara will incorporate the design!
Bravo!
Posted by: Lauren Deutsch | July 10, 2009 at 12:40 PM
The typical excuse of bad art, jus t like van Goghs supposedly never having sold a painting justifying half a century of terrible garbage, that is still garbage today.
Fine Art in the age of our Academy has contributed to more trash in landfills than any other field, compared to what is useful and lasts. Nothing new ahs been done in fifty years, this sure as hell inst, rather primitive and conservative in the social way, certainly not in the ecological one. Artistes live the lie, hypocrites like no others. Becaue they truly represent te powers that be, the reps of the age of Excess and Mesm. Their patrons the robber barons of the late 20th century. Eli Broad just the laest among many.
There is no avant garde, just children living off daddies and real estate investments while those of us in the real world labor and create as we best can, responsibly. Neverland is over. It never existed. It is time to put aside childish tings.
art collegia delenda est
Posted by: Donald Frazell | July 10, 2009 at 03:04 PM
The truly incredible feat is that this gateway took 7 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to birth to fruition. I am absolutely dumbfounded. I was at the unveiling last night and I kid you not, I was waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out from behind the clunky lime-colored monolith and tell us all we'd been Punk'd but alas no. If you gave a group of local 3rd graders a box of broken crayons and 15 minutes they would be hard pressed not to outshine this leaden turd. One can't help but wonder how horrid the other 60 entries must have been for this "design" to have been chosen. It's the only landmark in town that could greatly benefit from either graffiti or a large temblor.
Posted by: chad | July 10, 2009 at 06:44 PM
Yikes... is that EVER UGLY! The gray makes the lettering partially disappear, the bright yellow is billious, and as a studio worker for over 30 years, I'm embarassed that you think it shows anything of our crafts.. I fear it would be an art directors nightmare...
Posted by: sictomystomach | July 10, 2009 at 08:46 PM
This just confirms what has ben known for decades, that those without the talent and discipline for film school or graphic arts go into the fine arts.
art collegia delenda est
Posted by: Donald Frazell | July 11, 2009 at 02:05 PM
In the first place Mr. Frazel, you've got your point across, so stop rambling. One post would have been enough. BUT, in the spirit of agreement, make no mistake, this sign is f-UGLY.
I love the idea of a gateway to North Hollywood and NoHo Arts District. Good way to create some community. I first heard about this over a year ago and now I understand that this has been long in the making. But this sign is anything but classy. I saw the first drawings and initially thought it was 'cool'. And I wanted to believe it would better in person.
It so isn't. This sign violently clashes with everything around it, and one can barely read "No Ho" without crossing your eyes. And to top it off, there's nothing on the flip side of the sign, only the backward "oH oN".
Peter Shire, give me a FREAKIN' break! Your sign has nothing that will stand the test of time. It looks like bad wall art from the 80's that is now lucky if it gets sold in 99 cent stores for a penny apiece! Like these, your sign will eventually find its way to the dumpster. And most of us with taste and style will bless that day.
Posted by: EA | July 22, 2009 at 04:05 PM
This sign is a disgusting monstrosity and is suitable only for a decaying orbit around the sun. Bad enough "NoHo" sounds funny, now it looks funny too. Well, if you consider regurgitation to be comedy. Petition to take it down is my second instinct.
Posted by: jay | August 31, 2009 at 06:49 PM
Seems like a few bitter mediocrets (not a word-but you know what I mean) have discovered their stage at the foot of the cyber gates. Like the spoiled art school kids from within the womb of academia being critiqued. My guess is they've never approached competing for nor completing such a commission. No concept what-so-ever of the rigor and drag placed upon public artist by the administration of countless categories required to make stuff in the public right of way happen without going gorilla. The easy way-by the way. This was not a case of years to make by the artist, but years for the city and it's agencies to GTS together. Try being an originator, with balls to be bold on a stage where all can see, considers a multiplicity of viewers and vantages (It better not fall down in wind, rain, earthquakes or from skateboarders) instead of just advocating for what is supposed to look like art.
Posted by: Purgethenlookagain | September 25, 2009 at 05:53 PM