"Glendale-Hyperion Bridge" by Danny Folkman

"Glendale-Hyperion Bridge" original fine art by Danny Folkman

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Oct 9, 2024

Price: Contact Artist for Price

Media: Gouache on Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper

Size: 16x20 in

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*This piece is available, but I wouldn't like to sell it without a frame, unless you wouldn't mind framing it yourself. If you're interested, please send me an email!

Another go at my favorite subject, the LA River. This is the Glendale-Hyperion bridge (1929) connecting Silver Lake and Atwater Village. The shadow you see in the foreground is from the pedestrian bridge that crosses the old Red Car pylons, which use to carry red cars across the river until the 50’s.
Gouache, 16x20”. Available.
I can go on for days about my love for these old LA river bridges. This bridge is the work of Merrill Butler, the architect for the city of LA from the 1920’s-50’s. Nobody cares nowadays, but most of the infrastructure around LA built during this time was in response to the City Beautiful movement of the early 1900’s. This was a belief that public architecture should serve as a source of pride and uplift the spirits and character of a city’s inhabitants. Imagine- building our cities FOR the people that actually live in them. So much of today’s architecture is so blatantly anti-human, and 0 thought is put into how it will affect the city’s character or the morale of the people who have to see it every day. So much care was put into these structures, like these bridges- that if they were built today, we wouldn’t even consider as an opportunity for something beautiful.
Now I get it- the view that I’ve painted really doesn’t look like much more than a lump of concrete, and definitely isn’t the best view to showcase the architecture of this bridge. This is just the Eastern span over the river, there’s another half to the west that crosses the 5 that you can see in the last photo. To me, these old bridges have character and a life of their own, thanks to the effort that was put into their creation. Think of it like a home cooked meal vs. a frozen meal you could buy in bulk at Costco.
.
What attracted me to this scene, as with most of my LA River scenes, was the big simple shapes, and the way the concrete is much brighter then the sky behind it- giving it this cool, moody feel. People often ask about the underpainting and the purpose they serve; In this case, I chose red because the scene was mostly blue, yellow and grey. The red adds a warmth and depth and acts to balance out the other 3, which on they’re on would make for a very dull scene.

*This piece is available, but I wouldn't like to sell it without a frame, unless you wouldn't mind framing it yourself. If you're interested, please send me an email!

Another go at my favorite subject, the LA River. This is the Glendale-Hyperion bridge (1929) connecting Silver Lake and Atwater Village. The shadow you see in the foreground is from the pedestrian bridge that crosses the old Red Car pylons, which use to carry red cars across the river until the 50’s.
Gouache, 16x20”. Available.
I can go on for days about my love for these old LA river bridges. This bridge is the work of Merrill Butler, the architect for the city of LA from the 1920’s-50’s. Nobody cares nowadays, but most of the infrastructure around LA built during this time was in response to the City Beautiful movement of the early 1900’s. This was a belief that public architecture should serve as a source of pride and uplift the spirits and character of a city’s inhabitants. Imagine- building our cities FOR the people that actually live in them. So much of today’s architecture is so blatantly anti-human, and 0 thought is put into how it will affect the city’s character or the morale of the people who have to see it every day. So much care was put into these structures, like these bridges- that if they were built today, we wouldn’t even consider as an opportunity for something beautiful.
Now I get it- the view that I’ve painted really doesn’t look like much more than a lump of concrete, and definitely isn’t the best view to showcase the architecture of this bridge. This is just the Eastern span over the river, there’s another half to the west that crosses the 5 that you can see in the last photo. To me, these old bridges have character and a life of their own, thanks to the effort that was put into their creation. Think of it like a home cooked meal vs. a frozen meal you could buy in bulk at Costco.
.
What attracted me to this scene, as with most of my LA River scenes, was the big simple shapes, and the way the concrete is much brighter then the sky behind it- giving it this cool, moody feel. People often ask about the underpainting and the purpose they serve; In this case, I chose red because the scene was mostly blue, yellow and grey. The red adds a warmth and depth and acts to balance out the other 3, which on they’re on would make for a very dull scene.

Available Paintings by Danny Folkman