In the 1980s, Los Angeles-based artist Stephen Prina was walking down La Brea Avenue with fellow artist Christopher Williams when they noticed a bright pink ‘object’ in a glowing storefront window. Upon closer inspection they discovered it to be a built-in desk designed by architect Rudolph Schindler. The unit had been taken out of its original architectural context, painted pink and displayed as a freestanding object. According to Prina, “it appeared to us as an amputated limb.”
That moment eventually inspired Prina’s latest installation at LACMA, entitled “As He Remembered It.” The exhibit is a part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in Los Angeles initiative.
Prina chose two houses built by Schindler in Los Angeles during the early 1940s, which have since been demolished. Using surviving plans and photographs, he had copies made of the unit furniture, which Schindler designed to be arranged to follow the lines of the room. The resulting installation at LACMA consists of twenty-eight objects that Prina painted pink using Pantone Honeysuckle 2011 Color of the Year and restaged in a grid pattern.
View the installation at LACMA (BCAM, Level 3 & Pavilion for Japanese Art) now through August 4, 2013. Watch the video below to hear Stephen Prina talks about the exhibition.
