Expo/Vermont Station
Neighborhood Portrait: Reconstructed
Jessica Polzin McCoy, artist
Estimated completion 2010
Displayed on the gateway arches, McCoy’s intricate watercolor collages of exteriors of homes in the West Adams area describe the window frames, doorways and garden gates that define the architecture of entryways in this historic neighborhood. When riders step through the gateways onto the station platform, they experience similarly assembled paintings of local residents seated in the interiors of their homes.
Located above seating modules, community members are surrounded by personal objects: books, a pet, framed photos of loved ones. The viewer has a sense of familiarity with both the public and the intimate spaces of the area surrounding the station. Each person who visits the station is also a visitor to a resident’s garden, their front porch, their living room, their bedroom.
“My goal is to produce artwork that reveals something secret or previously unseen. The viewer should know the painting. It should be their private space.”