DesignLA the Los Angeles Times new Sunday magazine, created by Michael Wollaeger, former managing editor of Architectural Digest. Michael possesses a great knowledge of architecture, interior design, the art community, and our shared endless curiosity about things LA.
Built in the era of the streetcars - now across the street from where the buses sleep
Graffiti mural by my friends, RETNA and figurative artist Ricardo Estrada
Looking up towards downtown Los Angeles from Alameda, across Central Ave, from the old railroad produce yards
Massive buildings, millions of square feet - impossible to imagine until you are standing there
Young and happening, great energy - dogs to work.
Previously home to American Apparel
New shops, furniture, fashion and design. New media - game design, video companies
Opening ceremony – Union Station 75th Anniversary Celebration
May 3rd marked the opening ceremony commemorating Union Station's 75th Anniversary. The celebration featured various musical and other performances throughout the day in the Old
Ticket Concourse, South Patio, East Portal and Fred Harvey space. Vintage sounds from the years the station opened—swing, blues,
roots—mingled with more contemporary and cultural beats—Afro-Mexican Son Jarocho,
Salsa, funk, Japanese taiko, New Orleans style brass, Chinese lion
dancers and more.
Metro Art Docents, posted at various locations throughout the station, answered
questions about the architecture and art in the station—including the
new photo light boxes in the Union Station Passageway!
The Heart of Los Angeles
In
celebration of Union Station’s 75th Anniversary, a new art space has
been added to its historic passenger tunnel. The last great railway
station built in America, this passageway has appeared in countless
films, from the gritty 1950 noir classic “Union Station” with William
Holden to “Blade Runner” and its futuristic portrayal of Los Angeles.
“The Heart of Los Angeles” series introduces artworks created by five
artists: Suzanne Adelman, Sam Comen, Kevin McCollister, Jim McHugh and
Catherine Opie (six by each artist). The photographs relate to the
station’s architectural heritage, transit usage, cultural significance,
and its physical and social relationship to neighboring communities.
Jim McHugh is inspired by the disappearing architectural landmarks of
his childhood in Los Angeles. He makes portraits of the city’s other
“celebrities”— the buildings around us, some forgotten and silent. Far
more than simple documents of architecture, these photographs serve as
powerful portraits, preserving impressions of character and personality
from another time.
Historic passengerway at celebrated Los Angeles Union Station. Six Duratrans panels titled "High Hopes" by Jim McHugh. (photo Matt Levitch)
Celebrated photographer Douglas Kirkland, known for his timeless photographs of Marilyn Monroe, points his lens on a perhaps-less-glamorous subject, Jim McHugh, with lighting assistance from Tim Yarger of Timothy Yarger Fine Arts. Union Station opening celebration, May 3, 2014
"Far
more than simple documents of architecture, these photographs serve as
powerful portraits, preserving impressions of character and personality
from another time."
– Heidi Zeller, MTA Creative Services
Color-proofing
small Duratrans proofs for Union Station installation with master
printer Joe Hill of Prolab Digital and Heidi Zeller of MTA Creative Services. (photo Matt Levitch)
Lady Gaga To Unveil Polaroid 'Grey Label' Project At CES. Pop star's collaboration with the instant-camera maker will be revealed this Thursday.
Selected by Polaroid Creative Director Lady Gaga, Jim McHugh will present his work in Polaroid including "LET'S GET LOST: POLAROIDS FROM THE COAST" at The Polaroid Booth #13616,Las Vegas Jan 6th-8th.
Creative Presentations: Professional photographer Jim McHugh will be leading a series of "Creativity Classes" at the Polaroid booth, presenting the many ways he expresses his creativity through photography and what Polaroid means to him as an artist.
Jim McHugh, famous for his highly collectible large format Polaroid prints of Los Angeles, will share his experiences over the past 30 years photographing everything from celebrities to architecture. The photographer's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The National Portrait Gallery, London, The George Eastman House and the Walker Art Center amongst others. He is the recipient of the coveted Prix de la Photographie, Paris for Architecture.
As the grandson of a golden-era Hollywood songwriter, acclaimed photographer Jim McHugh is heir to a particular experience and vision of Los Angeles that's all romance, noir, silhouetted buildings, and casual luxury. With his knack for photographing buildings in the intimate style of a portraitist, and in such a way as to erase all traces of intervening history, McHugh's photographs capture the ghost of what was — and might be again — LA's promise of beauty and the sunny, shadowy, glittering character of America in its vintage red-carpet regalia.
– Shana Nys Dambrot Flavor Pill- New York • December, 2009
I'm working on the new pictures from Paris, called " Sketches for Atget." These prints are a group of photographs taken on several walks over a period of three days in Paris. All of the photographs were taken with what remains of my 4x5 Polaroid stock. What a better place than Paris? I've posted these two.
I'm really excited about my upcoming show in Paris. I printed the entire show on Innova Fiber paper which feels like it was made for these specific images. I think the quality of the prints is stunning. Holding detail for color and depth in darker imagery has been so important. The prints are being framed now in France, at the Dupont Lab in Paris.
It will be very interesting for me to see how a European audience responds to these very classic noir images of Hollywood and Los Angeles. The photograph of the Asbury is the first picture I've produced using the newer Fuji 4x5 instant film.
"He, in my opinion and the opinions of many, is the most important architectural photographer in history. He elevated what you might consider a commercial genre to a fine art,"
Gallery owner and long time friend, Craig Krull
I photographed Julius in November of 2008. The camera he is holding is the one he began shooting with in 1936.
His photographs are examples of what the very best can be. Any serious photography involving architecture must be looked at in relationship to the work of Julius Shulman. His way of photographing will never again be duplicated.
A Master of a series of technically demanding skills he was able to capture with a large format camera in a single shot on a sheet of film the perfect picture- meticulously lit and balanced. But above all else it was his vision as an artist that defined an era.
With his passing one senses a great continent has slipped back into the sea.
Julius Shulman 1910-2009
photo: David Sirh
"We went out to breakfast after the photographs were taken...at age 98 Julius spoke excitedly about the shoot he had just completed the day before... the assignments he had coming up...and all the while he was finishing off a very large stack of pancakes... Some days remain forever!"
From 'A Photographer's Life: Just One More'
Polaroid Photograph of Julius Shulman 11"x 14" - ink on Innova archival paper
First published inArt and Living Magazine, Special Artists Issue - 2008
