Hollywood Freeway Construction, 1953

Clearing for a New Freeway, 1950s

This series of paintings is based on the deconstruction of mid-20th century Southern California and the construction of the freeway system, and the growing pains that resulted from transforming quiet and autonomous neighborhoods into a network of urban/suburban communities.    I remember growing up in the 1940s and 50s, seeing swaths of empty or demolished houses with dying lawns and driveways and sidewalks that led to nowhere, where community life had thrived, waiting to be replaced by a concrete stretch of highway that looked like an airport runway---it was eerie.