James Doolin: Los Angeles artist with some freeway themes

[Kurumi]

I encountered his work at a new permanent exhibit at the San Jose Museum
of Art. Many of his works are near-photorealistic paintings of urban
landscapes in Los Angeles, including freeway scenes. He passed away in
2002 at the age of 70.

One of his more famous paintings is "Shopping Mall", which took 4 years
to finish, and was done in a precise scale with the aid of blueprints.
It's a birds-eye view of the corner of Arizona Avenue and Third Street
in Santa Monica in 1973:

http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/
802.html

The scan's a little fuzzy and doesn't show the crisp detail in the
painting.

Doolin's work also includes "Twilight", which resembles an overhead view
of the 105/110 interchange:

http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/3aa/3aa6.htm (scroll down)

"Crossroads" (1999) features sweeping flyovers seen from below:

http://www.flintridgefoundation.org/visualarts/recipients20012002_jamesdo
olin.html (scroll down)
http://www.koplindelrio.com/doolin/doolin.html

"Bridges": http://www.conversations.org/doolin.htm

And Australian author Peter Carey wrote:
"When the painter James Doolin died last month, suddenly at 70, I lost
not only a friend but also an important teacher. ... he persuaded me
that the freeways of Los Angeles were the most important sculptures of
our time..."

(complete story at http://tinyurl.com/2kkhd)

Short obituary and review (LA Weekly):
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/39/art-harvey2.php

I was happy to see highway architecture, to which there is definite
attention paid to aesthetic issues, getting some respect in the art
world.

--
Kurumi http://www.kurumi.com/
3di's, Conn. Roads, maps, interchanges
"Would you like to try my possibility sword? It's quite puissant."
- Uther Doul

[Oscar S.]

Paintings/art of freeways can be hard to find. I scored a great image
for Houston Freeways (p. 92.) The painting is by a deceased Houston
artist (Frank Freed) and is owned by the Jerusalem museum.

If any city can be an inspiration for freeway art, Los Angeles is the
place. It's good to hear someone was inspired.

Kurumi <sa...@xupiter.com> wrote in message news:<sales-7F69E0....@news.west.earthlink.net>...