Public Art For Street Installation in the City of West Hollywood, California
ARTIST’S STATEMENT: THE 3 MUSES OF WEST HOLLYWOOD
Who are we, the people of West Hollywood? Where do we come from? What do we do? As we live out our lives here in West Hollywood, a city that welcomes and celebrates those of us who are different, I wondered, who inspires us? We are artists, designers, housewives and husbands. We are Russian expatriates, gays and lesbians, writers, musicians, and filmmakers. We are tastemakers and we are taste breakers. As I pondered the richness of our city’s diversity, I thought about a venue for my art - large format photography. I wanted a space that could reflect back to us a vision of who we are, a vision I could express in my work and a place where other artists could also display their visions of how they saw West Hollywood. And so I conceived of a venue that could rotate fine art about our community and I designed three sculptural edifices that could proudly show the world who we are.
I am inspired and intrigued at the possibilities of photographing Russian people, musicians and other icons of our community in my own phantasmagoric postmodern way. Deconstructing West Hollywood can be fun and full of the joie de vivre we have come to love about our city.
And so I offer THE 3 MUSES OF WEST HOLLYWOOD, as the first works to occupy this new art space. My 3 MUSES OF WEST HOLLYWOOD are from left to right: MUSIC (the word’s root comes from Muse), ART and FILM. -- A triptych of images suitable for a bold and unique, site-specific display somewhere along the grassy traffic median on Santa Monica Boulevard.
West Hollywood puts on the largest Halloween celebration in the world. Almost half a million people visited for last year’s event, many to see drag queens. When I discussed this project with my photo laboratory, their master printer called my colorful images, my 3 clowns. And in a sense that is what they are.
Drag queens, like clowns or court jesters often bring a sense of fun and frivolity to our lives. They dust us with magic moments of joy, laughter and creative flashes of inspiration-they are our Muses. They reflect back to us the people of our own community.
These 3 muses are 3 SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE, a group who in the classic manner of many other Sisters, minister to the sick and the poor. Their central mission is to raise money for support to people with AIDS and to inform and educate the public about AIDS prevention. They serve our city.
This installation of fantasy-colored drag queens, not only celebrates the singular virtues of our creative city (MUSIC, ART, and FILM ), but also becomes a tourist attraction, especially for the international gay and lesbian tourist dollar - much better spent in West Hollywood than in Iceland, Amsterdam, Barcelona, or Rio De Janeiro, which heavily to the international gay tourist demographic
The Cibachrome photographic prints are 8 feet by 4 feet. Cibachrome (Illfachrome Classic) is the most color saturated and the most archival photographic print material available, resistant to sunlight for 200 years.
These sculptural housings are permanent and can be reconfigured so as to rotate the showing of any flat and sculptural art. My triptych of Cibachrome prints, positioned to face on-coming traffic, is dual sided and can swivel, so that The 3 Muses; MUSIC (left), ART (center) - which includes fashion and design - and FILM (right) can be seen from both sides of the street. Each box-like housing will be constructed in aluminum, and will be 6 feet by 11 feet, by 30 “ thick. The housing, the non-glare plexiglass that covers each print. The work’s steel cylindrical support - sunk in concrete poured into the ground - is all to be constructed to be weather proof. The triptych rises up to a height of 18 feet. There is 7 feet of clearance, designed so as not to block views of traffic or merchants.
.
-PHIL TARLEY
Public Art For Street Installation in the City of West Hollywood, California
ARTIST’S STATEMENT: THE 3 MUSES OF WEST HOLLYWOOD
Who are we, the people of West Hollywood? Where do we come from? What do we do? As we live out our lives here in West Hollywood, a city that welcomes and celebrates those of us who are different, I wondered, who inspires us? We are artists, designers, housewives and husbands. We are Russian expatriates, gays and lesbians, writers, musicians, and filmmakers. We are tastemakers and we are taste breakers. As I pondered the richness of our city’s diversity, I thought about a venue for my art - large format photography. I wanted a space that could reflect back to us a vision of who we are, a vision I could express in my work and a place where other artists could also display their visions of how they saw West Hollywood. And so I conceived of a venue that could rotate fine art about our community and I designed three sculptural edifices that could proudly show the world who we are.
I am inspired and intrigued at the possibilities of photographing Russian people, musicians and other icons of our community in my own phantasmagoric postmodern way. Deconstructing West Hollywood can be fun and full of the joie de vivre we have come to love about our city.
And so I offer THE 3 MUSES OF WEST HOLLYWOOD, as the first works to occupy this new art space. My 3 MUSES OF WEST HOLLYWOOD are from left to right: MUSIC (the word’s root comes from Muse), ART and FILM. -- A triptych of images suitable for a bold and unique, site-specific display somewhere along the grassy traffic median on Santa Monica Boulevard.
West Hollywood puts on the largest Halloween celebration in the world. Almost half a million people visited for last year’s event, many to see drag queens. When I discussed this project with my photo laboratory, their master printer called my colorful images, my 3 clowns. And in a sense that is what they are.
Drag queens, like clowns or court jesters often bring a sense of fun and frivolity to our lives. They dust us with magic moments of joy, laughter and creative flashes of inspiration-they are our Muses. They reflect back to us the people of our own community.
These 3 muses are 3 SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE, a group who in the classic manner of many other Sisters, minister to the sick and the poor. Their central mission is to raise money for support to people with AIDS and to inform and educate the public about AIDS prevention. They serve our city.
This installation of fantasy-colored drag queens, not only celebrates the singular virtues of our creative city (MUSIC, ART, and FILM ), but also becomes a tourist attraction, especially for the international gay and lesbian tourist dollar - much better spent in West Hollywood than in Iceland, Amsterdam, Barcelona, or Rio De Janeiro, which heavily to the international gay tourist demographic
The Cibachrome photographic prints are 8 feet by 4 feet. Cibachrome (Illfachrome Classic) is the most color saturated and the most archival photographic print material available, resistant to sunlight for 200 years.
These sculptural housings are permanent and can be reconfigured so as to rotate the showing of any flat and sculptural art. My triptych of Cibachrome prints, positioned to face on-coming traffic, is dual sided and can swivel, so that The 3 Muses; MUSIC (left), ART (center) - which includes fashion and design - and FILM (right) can be seen from both sides of the street. Each box-like housing will be constructed in aluminum, and will be 6 feet by 11 feet, by 30 “ thick. The housing, the non-glare plexiglass that covers each print. The work’s steel cylindrical support - sunk in concrete poured into the ground - is all to be constructed to be weather proof. The triptych rises up to a height of 18 feet. There is 7 feet of clearance, designed so as not to block views of traffic or merchants.
.
-PHIL TARLEY