Urban Art : Off the Wall

If you drive past Hollywood Boulevard and Argyle Avenue, it is impossible to miss Miguel Angel Reyes’ mural: 22 portraits (mostly of his friends), interspersed with 22 tightly cropped close-ups of roses, tulips, lilies, bamboo and reeds, all rendered in confident reds, greens and yellows. Painted over a six-month period on a 720-foot construction fence, the work--which Reyes calls “Amistades” (friendship)--brightens up a particularly drab section of Hollywood. Reyes’ mural, part of the MTA’s Art for Rail Transit Program, is one of six that are enlivening construction sites of Metro Red Line Stations. The mural will be up until the station is finished, an estimated three to four years. After that, the MTA is uncertain about what it will do with the art. If the artwork is still in good shape, it may be auctioned.