Public Art, little Tokyo by Kevin Solis

Phase 1: The Site 

    The reason I chose this site was because I visit little Tokyo at least once a week on my days off from work, whether I go by myself or with my brother and cousins. If you ever when to little Tokyo in LA you always notice the public art work that surrounds little Tokyo, which compose of murals, statue with plaques and the close you get to it you could read the plaque, interaction art with a rubric cubes, and also the design of the building looking like ancient Japanese villages and it makes you feel back in time if you were in Japan. When I visit I don't really pay attention of the art surrounding little Tokyo because I have a different goal when I visit, which is to go shopping. Since the announce of this project I already knew I was going to talk about the art that surrounds little Tokyo and take my time to check them out instead of walking pass by them and not giving them a second thought. 

Phase 2: Field Work 

"Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial", created by Isao Hirai with the bronze bas-relief of the astronaut sculpted by Joseph Hernandez, Astronaut Ellison S Onizuka St, Los Angeles, CA 90012, plastic and metal

The "Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial" is a memorial to the Challenger Seven flight, crew, and program, specially honoring flight crew member Colonel Ellison Shoji Onizuka. The context behind this public art is the explosion that killed crew members on Jan. 28, 1986, pays tribute to the space program, the flight crew, and specifically to crew member Colonel Ellison Shoji Onizuka, the nation's first Japanese American astronaut. The memorial was commissioned by the Ellison S. Onizuka Memorial Committee.

The 150-foot-tall "L.A. Rising" mural of Shohei Ohtani in Little Tokyo was created by acclaimed local artist Robert Vargas, 328 E 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012, high-quality, weather-resistant exterior acrylics and standard masonry primers

This is the "L.A. Rising" of the baseball player Shohei Ohtani, which is the representation and a big star of the MLB for the Japanese people. The purpose of this mural is to celebrate the Dodgers superstar and bridge the Japanese American and broader Los Angeles communities. 

the Friendship Knot, Created by Japanese-American sculptor Shinichi Tajiri, 134 Astronaut Ellison S Onizuka St, Los Angeles, CA 90012, glass fiber-reinforced polyester

it was originally named Square Knot and displayed in the Netherlands before being moved to Weller Court

OOMO Cube, Created by artist Nicole Maloney, "OOMO" stands for "Out of Many, One.",

 100 N. Central Avenue in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, durable ABS plastic

For both the OOMO cube and The Friendship Knot theme is diversity and unity, where in the friendship knot public art is a Japanese friendship symbol and in this case it unities their cultures with neighboring cities that little Tokyo is trying to share. while for the OOMO Cube is an interactive art that people could touch and move the rubric cube like the one we are accustomed to. The  interactive with the Rubik's style puzzle features photographs of the faces of 30 Angelenos to represent five facets of diversity: race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. The artwork focuses primarily on eyes, noses, and mouths to emphasize the basic similarities among all people

Phase 3: Critical Analysis 

    As I'm looking at each public art I feel like there all interaction in some way with the public view. where you see the friendship knot, the rubric cube, the spaceship, and the mural of Shohei Ohtani. Each has their way of interacting with the viewer, either you could move it around, gives information on people who board the spaceship, showing a sign that mean friendship to different culture, and showing international love to a Japanese player that we all root for because he plays for our team (Los Angeles Dodgers). In all as it in little Tokyo they show Japanese culture to the public. 

Phase 4: Proposal 

    As you go by Little Tokyo and walk around these public art are the ones that stand out the most and makes you interact an speculate the detail that he artist put into these pieces. I love the fact that each piece is some sort of way that is trying to unite different culture and even share means for example the knot, if you didn't know anything about Japanese culture you wont have known if a Japan see gave you a friendship knot like seen in the photo it means they cherish you and you wont even have known. also like I stated before the artist is trying to give unity as well with different culture just like the rubric cube where you could move it around with each cubic piece having different characteristics of a face from different diversity of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Lasty the Challenger space shuttle gives unity by honoring the diverse, seven-member crew of the 1986 space shuttle disaster, celebrating our shared American space legacy, and specifically celebrating local hero Colonel Ellison S. Onizuka. In all I believe they all are place perfectly because most of them have enough space to make a crowd to admire each piece and its fun to walk around that plaza.