As I was photographing the vibrant artwork all over the walls of the three new LA Metro D Line below Wilshire, I was most impressed by “Hands and and Things” created by Karl Haendel at Fairfax station.

You may read here my article about the art at La Cienega and La Brea stations.

I admired large drawings of male and female hands of different skin colors holding mysterious objects.

The artist explained that these items are located at one of the many museums of the area, such as LACMA, Academy Museum, Petersen Automotive, Tar Pits, and the people holding them all live and work in the same neighborhood.

For instance, the Bolex 16mm camera is part of the Academy Museum collection and is being held by an employee of the El Rey Theater on Wilshire.

The shovel dripping with tar is from the La Brea Tar Pits Museum and is held by the Principal of Hancock Park Elementary School.

You may watch the artist talk about it at this link.

Enjoy some more murals with no clear explanation. I know I did, I found their mystery fascinating.

Ken Gonzales-Day’s “Urban Excavation: Ancestors, Avatars, Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, Casts, Copies, Deities, Figures, Funerary Objects, Gods, Guardians, Mermaids, Metaphors, Mothers, Possessions, Sages, Spirits, Symbols, and Other Objects,” encloses inside glass bubbles images of diverse artifacts from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

This interested me, because I focused on the exhibit “Images of the Divine in South Asia” at LACMA’s Geffen Galleries. Read my article here. I wrote about Indian Sculpture at the Norton Simon Museum in this article.

You may watch the artist talk about his concept at this link.

The artwork by Susan Stilton is titled “WE, OUR, US.” With those pronouns, the artist wished to express our common humanity.

In the video interview that you may watch here, she mentions a quote from Gloria Anzaldúa, written in Spanish and barely visible underneath those colored stripes: “Caminante no hace puentes. Se hace puentes al andar.”

I encourage you to explore these artworks on your own, at all three stations, and it will inspire you in different ways.

Here are the turnstiles that will let you in and out. Enjoy!

You may click on underlined words for more info.