Los Angeles River #12 (2018)

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High-tension electrical towers are underappreciated. They are rarely depicted in art, though they maintain a ubiquitous presence in contemporary society. Their lacework of structural iron loom over untold fields in urban, suburban and rural settings and perhaps stand alone as one of the most important and underappreciated aspects of global infrastructure: They carry the energy that drives everything from cell phones to electric trains literally hundreds of thousands of miles across the globe.

The use of a lattice of engineered structural steel was first exploited to renowned effect by George Washington Ferris to build the monumental and first Ferris wheel for the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. Not to be outdone by the Americans, Gustave Eiffel created what was, at that time, the world’s tallest structure for the Paris world’s fair in 1889. The beauty, strength and versatility of a lattice of structural steel fundamentally changed construction and architecture for decades into the future.

Sadly, this same technique when used for the contemporary high-tension electrical tower, does not seem garner the same level of aesthetic appreciation as it did when used to create its architectural ancestors. However, in Los Angeles River Painting 12, The Beauty of Haze and Power Lines, the humble high-tension electrical tower does get a bit of artistic recognition. Marching in tandem along the banks of the Los Angeles River, engineered steel structures pose with other elements of infrastructure; concrete bridges, a channelized riverbed and rows of railroad cars.  In the background, the hills of Elysian Park and Montecito Heights can be seen through a typical Los Angeles silvery haze. 

If you are interested in this painting, you can view more details in the Store. If you would like to learn more about the City of Los Angeles' River Project, explore the links below.

More on the Los Angeles Revitalization Project

City of Los Angeles River Revitalization Project