Two very different looks — I like them both. Collectors take note: You can pick up a free first edition poster at the Metro Library at the HQ in downtown Los Angeles while supplies last. Sorry, only one poster per person.  Library hours are Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  A good overview of the Metro Art program is here and the new posters and news release from Metro follows:

Two new posters celebrating Chatsworth and Compton, two of the many destinations customers can travel to via Metro, are currently on display in Metro buses and are soon to be installed on rail cars throughout the Metro system. Commissioned by Metro Creative Services, the Chatsworth poster is by local artist Danny Heller and the Compton poster is by Elliot Pinkney.

As seen through the eyes of Danny Heller, Chatsworth is depicted by its unusual rock formations, equestrian culture and love for vintage cars. Heller painted in his award winning style of realism and bold colors, the scene is both refined and fun.

“I really want to give a sense of the still very open landscape of this part of the valley. The classic car culture out here is pretty big and it helps to show the main thoroughfare through town: Topanga Canyon Blvd. Stoney Point/Rocky Peak is also an iconic feature of the landscape,” says Heller.

As seen through the eyes of Elliot Pinkney, Compton City is depicted as a brilliant array of colors, images, icons and signage that highlight the hidden treasurers. Known as the Hub City due to it’s proximity to four major freeways, the artists design Compton is represented in it past and present cultural uniqueness. Pinkney’s uses the City’s nickname as “The center of a cultural wheel,” booming with color and movement.

“Upon visiting the City of Compton, you soon become aware of the energy and excitement found here. The impression is often quite different from how the city is depicted in the media and by non-residents,” says Pinkney.
Danny Heller is a painter from Northbridge. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley where he studied the Los Angeles landscape. Danny develops his works in his studio at Chatsworth, depicting the mid-century Los Angeles with focus on its architecture and car culture.

Elliot Pinkney was born and spent his childhood in Brunswick, Georgia. His high school teachers encouraged him to pursue a career in the arts. He moved to California and received a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Woodbury University. Pinkney is an accomplished artist who works in a variety of media; he is a printmaker, muralist and sculptor and his work is centered around color experimentation. He lives and works in the city of Compton.

The Chatsworth and Compton posters are number twenty-two and twenty-three in the series of posters commissioned by Metro Creative Services. Posters in the series have garnered a Print Magazine Regional Design Annual Excellence Award, Tranny Merit Award, “Fresh” Illustrations Award from Illustrations Magazine Annual, Los Angeles Society of Illustrators Silver Medal, and a Society of Environmental Graphic Design Award.

In the tradition of celebrating transportation through colorful travel destination posters, Metro commissions a diverse range of Los Angeles artists to create original artworks. The purpose of the series is to express the distinctive character of neighborhoods and destinations served by Metro. The posters are displayed throughout the Metro system, including on trains and buses, in stations and various other locations.

Metro Creative Services includes the agency’s in-house design studio, which creates Metro’s brand communications, and the agency’s art and design excellence programs, which commission wide-ranging projects by visual artists and promote overall design quality of customer environments.

From intelligently designed, user-friendly customer information, engaging and effective advertising and a newly designed fleet of buses and trains to large scale site-specific artworks by world-class artists. Metro employs art and design to create a sense of place, engage transit riders, and improve quality of life throughout Los Angeles County.

For more information about Metro’s art programs and it’s free docent guided tours, visit metro.net/art or call 213/922-4ART.