Public Art of Lynwood: Ulises G

 
 
 
 

 

 Public Art of Lynwood

Ulises G. 

 SITE: Ricardo Lara Park

Ricardo Lara Linear Park | Landscape Performance Series

 The Ricardo Lara Park is a local park that I watched spring up, turning an ugly lot next to a freeway into a beautiful and adorned park with amenities and biking space. While its not the most extravagant piece of public art, its important in multiple ways rather than purely visual.

FIELD WORK: 

The park was funded by the SWA group, a global landscape architecture firm, that believes that its purpose is to "build community, nurture ecosystems, and reconnect people with nature and each other" (https://www.swagroup.com). 

The park was a significant effort to clean up a vacant lot next to a freeway, bringing together communities and draining storm water runoff. 

https://landezine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Lynwood-Park-David-Lloyd-72_4k.jpg 
 
The park also features a lot of space for play and exercise, as well as public gardens and benches with shade to promote community and participation towards it.
 
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Foss.gooood.cn%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F04%2F012-2021-asla-urban-design-award-of-excellence-ricardo-lara-linear-park-swa-group.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=8b573aec870f4ced1852ada93985cf68e337e31cd1ce9828b93d40984cade961
The layout of the park and each sections purpose
 
 Personally and as a community, the park was a welcome relief to the lack of parks and attention the city gets as a whole, providing a lot of public space for people to gather in. Ive personally seen many bikers and dog walkers in all times of day thankful for the space they have. 
The park also has many tasteful inscriptions and adornments such as mosaics and children's hand prints on the gardens. 
 
Ricardo Lara Park by SWA Group - Landscape Architecture Platform | Landezine Ricardo Lara Park by SWA Group - Landscape Architecture Platform | Landezine
 
Ricardo Lara | Insurance Commissioner
A campaign image of Ricardo Lara
 
 
As for Ricardo Lara himself, he is the first openly gay man to be elected to a statewide office in California. As of recent however, he is most known for his wasteful foreign travels utilizing taxpayer money. 
 
 
 
 
 
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
  
Plaza Mexico | Sterling Organization
Plaza Mexico in Lynwood
 
 
 While there isn't too much to compare it to, this park does align with existing structures in Lynwood. The Plaza Mexico was already a space for the community to interact and come together in, but it is more focused on businesses rather than the community itself.
 
 It also continues with the trend of representing Hispanic and Mexican culture.

 
PROPOSAL:
 
While i do appreciate these buildings and works of art, I do find it strange that there is less representation of the local community in our city, especially in terms of a place specifically to showcase art so i don't have to be using actual infrastructure as my entry for this project. If i could have chosen a significant work of public art for this project, I would have, although i do find the impact that this site has beneficial for our community, it doesn't represent it.
 
I could see many places where art could thrive in my neighborhood, such as sculptures in roundabouts or space in already existing infrastructure for showcasing art, and it would also be nice for more murals on existing buildings.
 
For the most part, there simply is either businesses or blank park space where there could be sculptures and statues, giving our city in my opinion a bit a of a depressing aura. I hope for a future of our city to have more beautiful art and more representation of our community.

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