Your next ride might just be an artwork!
What is the Metro Art Bus? An immersive art experience from street to seat that also connects neighborhoods across L.A. County, engaging riders and passersby along the way. The bus brings exemplary artworks by local artists directly to our bus riders — which are about 75% of Metro’s riders.
The Metro Art Bus will be on different routes daily to meet riders where they are and offer an unexpected art experience. You never know when or where a Metro Art Bus might surprise you on your daily travels! If you see or ride a Metro Art Bus, take a photo for your social media and tag #MetroArtBus and #SomosWeAreLA.
The inaugural Metro Art Bus takes Metro Art’s bright and uplifting exhibition We Are…Portraits of Metro Riders by Local Artists on the road. Each bus exterior is wrapped in 16 rider portraits with the full set of 41 rider portraits inside.
Three Metro Art Buses were transformed overnight to service bus routes operating out of three of our busy bus facilities in Los Angeles: Division 13 in Downtown Los Angeles, Division 15 in Sun Valley, and Division 18 in Gardena.
Watch this time-lapse of the installation under the Strawberry Super Moon in late June at Metro Bus Division 13:
The Metro Art rider portrait series celebrates the diversity of both L.A. County and the community of transit riders by featuring original portraits of customers by transit-riding artists. Metro Art worked with 22 curatorial advisors to develop the rider portrait series, which features approximately 60 riders in portraits created by 41 local artists.
“I hope the portraits bring a sense of belonging so that people are able to see a reflection of themselves, and how we all contribute to the beauty of our communities and neighborhoods — and deserve to be celebrated and remembered in art projects like this,” shared Hyde Park based curatorial advisor Kelli Jackson.
The We Are…exhibition also includes digital displays at each of the A Line (Blue) stations with more digital to come, an illuminated installation in the Passageway Art Gallery at Union Station, the latest releases in the limited-edition Art on TAP series and more to come. A publication documenting the rider portrait series is available for download, and all 41 portraits to date can be viewed in an online gallery In addition, select portraits from the series are now on bus posters throughout the Metro system.
Learn more about the artists and rider portrait series at metro.net/weare.
Related posts on The Source:
- New “Art on TAP” cards now available at select TAP vending machines (June 15, 2022)
- Who We Are… Celebrating Metro riders and more (February 22, 2022)
- Portraits of Metro riders by local artists now on view at Union Station (December 15, 2021)
Click here for more information about the Metro Art program, current opportunities for artists, projects in the works, tours, events, and publications. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and sign up for the Metro Art email list.
Categories: Metro Art, Transportation News
Not trying to be a negative Nancy here because, to give props here first, Metro actually outdid themselves here. I genuinely do like what I’m seeing here. But why is it that the Articulated Buses, where this artwork would shine so much more, always get shifted out of such opportunities like this one? Still, this is nice!