Project Description
This cityscape celebrates a natural refuge known for expansive vistas, which draw native wildlife and people alike.
Artist Statement
My vision for the artwork imagines a Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook that is blooming with life through my hyperbolic drawings of oversized native plants and animals, surrounded by a city and draped on both sides with an expansive view. I used various computer generated color textures along with my hand drawn renditions of native plants and animals to create the landscape. My focus on the landscape and the native plants and animals is to emphasize to Metro riders the uniqueness of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook as an “ecological island” in the Culver City neighborhood.
About the Artist
Michael C. Hsiung (b. 1976, Los Angeles) was raised in the San Fernando Valley where exposure to skateboarding, heavy metal and Dungeons & Dragons fueled his imagination. He is a self-taught artist and illustrator known for his portly, bearded hybrid creatures and signature line-drawn style. Hsiung was born to Chinese-Taiwanese immigrants and studied English literature at San Jose State University. His humorous illustrations have appeared in numerous zines and as tattoos, and his paintings and works on paper have been exhibited throughout Los Angeles and in New York.
Locations: Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook