The highly stylized spiraling line and subdued colors in Andre Yi 's ink on paper drawings offer an impression of LA while forming content that shares a subtle commentary to how life in LA, with its high and low points, is harmonized. The drawings picture dominant aspects of LA - freeway interchanges, billboards, smoggy horizons - with a romanticism that touches upon the strangely compelling appeal these aspects hold over our psyches. No one thinks smog is beautiful but everyone agrees that there is something special about the quality of light in LA. No one appreciates driving for a half-hour every time you get into a car, but at the same time the city's vastness seems to offer something new at every corner.

Freeway Interchange

Ink on paper, 25 1/2" x 23", 2001

 

Freeway Interchange (detail)

Ink on paper, 25 1/2" x 23", 2001

 

Billboards

Ink on acetate, 40" x 25", 2001

 

Freeway Interchange

Ink on acetate, 40" x 25", 2001

 

Freeway Interchange

Ink on paper, 25 1/2" x 19 3/4", 2001

 

Hollywood Smog-O-Meter

Ink on paper, 25 1/2" x 19 3/4"

 

Hollywood Smog-O-Meter (detail)

Ink on paper, 25 1/2" x 19 3/4"

 

10 110 Interchange

Ink on paper, 25 1/2" x 19 3/4", 2001

 

10 110 Interchange (detail)

Ink on paper, 25 1/2" x 19 3/4", 2001

 

Hollywood Smog-O-Meter

Ink on paper, 25 1/2" x 19 3/4"