Artist Tiphanie Brooke and Mike Polson - her partner and collaborator of antigirl and brooke & one - show their love for the City of Angels with the “Heart of Los Angeles.” Initially designed by Brooke as a sort of response to Milton Glaser’s famous “I Heart New York” logo from 1977, the Heart of LA is quickly becoming an urban art icon. Brooke shares her thoughts on some of her favorite hearts, which can be spotted from Downtown L.A. to the Westside.
Head+Heart
"How my heart icon series started - my lovelife heart. A heart I made for my hearts show (A Heart Condition, February 2011), a very surreal time. While Mike and I were building the show, my father was diagnosed with and dying of cancer. All I could think was love and life." (LOCATION: across from STAPLES Center, Downtown LA)
Angels Dust
"The LOS ANGELES heart in what we’re calling angelsdust, a collection that has layers and layers of glitter, literally, embedded into the icon. We wanted to do something vivid - maybe neon. Glitter was the result and answer." (LOCATION: Pico Boulevard and Flower Street, Downtown LA)
Cornerstone
"This wall looks kinda funny now, it was so clean when we put it up. Mike and I are constantly called out for this heart whenever it pops up on Instagram. People have written over it with their intials and it is pretty awesome and amazing for us to see. A message board for the neighborhood." (LOCATION: Olympic and Olive)
Luck
"[Luck and Lil Mexico] are real close to each other. I had only been to the neighborhood at night. It was quiet. The next day when we returned for our morning photos, I literally couldn’t believe the amount of people around the hearts, and someone offered me a fake ID. I think/hope the neighborhood loves the hearts. They’re both still up, months later. The title Lil Mexico came from conversations on Instagram about the location of these. It really stuck with me. The heart is so symbolic." (LOCATION: Alvarado Street and 8th St., Macarthur Park)
Blown Head
"The Blown Head piece is on a freeway I take to school. It is still there and very faded. I haven’t seen many pictures of this one, and in some ways, I think the photographs make it, ‘art’; it’s the scenery. It’s truly the completed picture." (LOCATION: 110 Freeway and Pico Boulevard, Downtown LA)
So Tall
"So Tall is so high up. Put in place before the USC/UCLA game, as a visual greeting to the Memorial Coliseum and South Los Angeles neighborhoods." (LOCATION: 29th St. east of the Coliseum, Exposition Park)
The Angel
"A favorite location. We keep going back. About six months after we put up the first Angel City Brewery heart, we went back to do (what we’re calling) a “pop up installation” in front of it. We had a few remnants from my birthday celebration and we wanted to do something playful in front of the heart. It took 5-10 minutes and we got two photographs - one of the installation, and one of the installation tipping over." (LOCATION: Angel City Brewery, Downtown L.A.)
The Angel v.2
"When we went back, we noticed how faded it was, it went on to get even more faded. One night we did a recovery mission. We reclaimed the original heart and replaced it with one from the angelsdust collection, a black shimmery glitter one. We took the original back so I could reconstruct it using thread. It’s unfinished currently, I’m hoping I can finish by the time holiday break is over; a professor at Art Center has asked to see it! And I want to take the opportunity to get his feedback to help bring it to museum archival quality." (LOCATION: Angel City Brewery)
Giant Tears
The night we put this up, two drunk girls kept yelling at us, “Oh my God......... Banksy? No why? Oh my God don’t be Banksy.” As they got closer, one of them noticed it was gold glitter, she literally gasped and said, “That is so beautiful!” Then they both went on to tell us what a good job it was. I just wanted them to leave us alone though. Distractions - especially like that - suck. The way she gasped, out of real shock and breath taken away, will always stick out for me and thank you for that (if you ever see this, of course)." (LOCATION: Wilshire Boulevard and Westmoreland Avenue, Koreatown)
Foxy
"We loved this arch. And it is our first piece on glass. The paint has a beautiful drip on glass. It won’t be our last on glass." (LOCATION: Fox Hills Drive and Pico Boulevard)