FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 12, 2022

CONTACT
LAX Public Relations
(424) 646-5260

(Los Angeles, CA) Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is proud to announce the installation of three new art exhibitions for the traveling public to view. The artwork, presented in partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, features works by two solo artists and one group exhibition. Guests will experience large-scale printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, painting and multi-media artworks that span three terminals.

"Los Angeles is home to the most dynamic local art scene in the country, and we are proud to host a thrilling range of new installations for guests to enjoy throughout 2022," said Sarah Cifarelli, Art Program Director, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). “These thought-provoking exhibitions bring a vibrancy of ideas, color and materials, and will enhance the experience for the millions of guests who will pass through LAX this year."

"Your Body is a Space That Sees" by Los Angeles artist Lia Halloran combines ink and light to celebrate women’s contributions to astronomy. Her large-scale cyanotype prints source historical imagery from a group of Harvard women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when views of the night sky were captured in photographic emulsion on glass plates. Halloran identified plates used by these women and referenced the images for her art. Paying tribute to the female astronomers, Halloran includes their names and their discoveries in the titles of her works.

 

“This body of work is really meant to honor the invaluable work that female astronomers contributed to their field," Halloran said. "Without these discoveries we would be nowhere near where we are now in terms of being able to measure and understand the universe.” 

Lia Halloran is associate professor of art and the director of the Painting and Drawing department at Chapman University in Orange, California. She also teaches courses that explore the intersection of art and science. “Your Body is a Space That Sees” is on view for ticketed passengers in Terminal 1 at Gate 9 through fall 2022. 

“Tumbleweeds” is a site-specifi­c installation that features hand-crafted, botanical sculptures manipulated from wood. The sculptures are inspired by tumbleweeds found in the Mojave Desert, which extends into the northeastern part of Los Angeles County. The installation manifests artist Pontus Willfors’ ongoing investigation into nature and culture. His work questions our human existence in relation to the natural world by asking - are humans part of nature, or separate? 

 

Willfors, who has lived in Los Angeles since 2005, views tumbleweeds as natural objects that are visually striking, but propagate devastation. The prickly spheres of a tumbleweed are considered an agricultural nuisance and ­fire hazard, but Willfors ­finds beauty in these plants with their delicate, yet resilient, fragmented branches and rootless forms. With this explanation, Willfors challenges viewers of his sculptures to consider connections between beauty and destruction. “Tumbleweeds” is on view for ticketed passengers in the Tom Bradley International Terminal, customs hallway, through fall 2022.

Additional Art to View 

In addition to the newly installed exhibitions, passengers can enjoy exhibitions on view in Terminal 1 and Terminal 7 in both pre-security and post-security areas:

 

Terminal 1

“In Search of Rainbows and Stardust” is Anna Carey's solo exhibition that features photographs and a video artwork. It's on view for ticketed passengers in Terminal 1 at Gate 10. Ticketed passengers can also view Tony DeLap’s “Floating Lady IV,” an abstract, illusionary sculpture commissioned in 1976 that was relocated to the Terminal 1 extension. “LA Rhapsody – Super Moon / Opus No.1” is an epic photograph and atmospheric sound installation by Karchi Perlmann that is also located in the Terminal 1 extension. 

 

On view in the pre-security areas of the newly opened Terminal 1 extension are two site-specific murals by artists Tofer Chin and Renée A. Fox. Chin’s “Opening” celebrates the diverse neighborhoods and seemingly endless landscapes of Los Angeles. Fox’s mural "Technicolor Pandemonium" spotlights wild parrots native to Mexico that now call Los Angeles home and are an unforgettable presence as they fill the skies above the city.

 

Flanking the elevator area on level 4 of the Terminal 1 extension are two group exhibitions curated by Craft in America: “LA Made” and “LA Scenes.” These exhibitions highlight how Los Angeles has been an epicenter for contemporary art since the mid-20^th century. On level 1 of Terminal 1 in the baggage claim area are two exhibitions by Los Angeles artist Susan Logoreci: “Window Seat” features paintings of iconic Los Angeles sites and a vinyl mural, and “overlay/layover” showcases her drawings of the city’s vast urbanscape combined with geometric and abstract patterns.

Terminal 7

 

Passengers traveling through Terminal 7 have two additional installations to view as part of their journey through LAX.

 

Eileen Cowin’s “The Portrait Project” is a large-scale photographic mural that takes a closer look at the people who keep LAX humming. Cowin’s photographs deliver dramatic and honest portraits that capture the engaging exchanges between the artist and the subjects. “The Portrait Project” is on view for ticketed passengers in the hallway connecting Terminal 7 and Terminal 8 on the Departures Level.

 

Located pre-security in the Ticketing Lobby on the Departures Level, Debra Scacco’s site-specific, abstract installation titled “The Letting Go” is composed of 20,000 feet of rope and references the immigration journey of her family. The complex web spanning the wall recalls a world map and encourages spectators to pause and reflect on where they come from, where they’ve been, and where they hope to go.

 

 

All media who wish to view the art located beyond the security screening must contact LAX Public Relations staff by emailing laxpr@lawa.org. Media must bring a current, government-issued ID to be escorted through TSA screening and will be escorted and supervised by Public Relations staff for the duration of their stay within the terminal.

 

About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

LAX, the third-busiest airport in the world and second busiest in the United States in 2019, is in the midst of a $14.3-billion capital improvement program that will touch on all nine passenger terminals and build new facilities, including an Automated People Mover (APM) train, Consolidated Rent-A-Car (ConRAC) facility and the West Gates at Tom Bradley International Terminal.

 

In 2019, LAX served nearly 88.1 million passengers and offered an average of 700 daily nonstop flights to 113 destinations in the U.S. and 1,200 weekly nonstop flights to 91 markets in 46 countries on 72 commercial airlines.

 

LAX generates 620,600 jobs in Southern California, with labor income of $37.3 billion and economic output (business revenues) of more than $126.6 billion, according to an economic study based on 2014 operations. This activity added $6.2 billion to local and state revenues and $8.7 billion in federal tax revenues. The study also reported that LAX’s ongoing capital improvement program creates an additional 121,640 annual jobs with labor income of $7.6 billion and economic output of $20.3 billion; $966 million in state and local taxes; and $1.6 billion in federal tax revenues.

 

LAX is part of a system of two Southern California airports – along with Van Nuys general aviation – that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City’s general fund. 

 

LAWA is leading the aviation industry in sustainability practices, with initiatives related to water management, energy (electricity) management, air quality, recycling and natural resources management. In 2019, LAX received Level III ACI Airport Carbon Accreditation from Airports Council International-Europe.

 

As a covered entity under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Angeles does not discriminate on the basis of disability and, upon request, will provide reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access to its programs, services, and activities. Alternative formats in large print, braille, audio, and other forms (if possible) will be provided upon request.