eminent domain project by roland wise
FREEWAY OPENS MARCH 18th, 2006M.J. HIGGINS GALLERY
244 South Main Street
Los Angeles, California 90012
213.617.1700
www.mjhiggins.comThe Eminent Domain Project: Interview with Roland Wise
By Charles RossWith a knack for ESCAPE, Roland Wise’s speeding nomadic approach to life has been clocked well over a 100 mph as he rolls into downtown Los Angeles March 18th with his latest work.
The origin of this work goes back some 33 years, and now at age of 40, he possesses hundreds of original drawings and designs along with several paintings that have yet to be shown on a broad scale. An accomplished artist, photographer, activist and writer, the complexity and range of his works are no surprise. When asked about the inspiration for his latest exhibition, Wise only hints at his personal theories about life saying with a grin, “These things are better left to the individual soul to interpret don’t you think?”
To the observer, the works displayed capture the emotions of connectedness within the context of the freeway. One has to imagine that the soul of anyone who views these pieces will be touched and a chord will resonate in the way that will linger long after the traffic of an exhibit. Some might call them freeway drawings or maps. But they captivate in a way that no map could ever do, unless that map were leading to some deep place within ourselves, a place we have only dreamed of traveling to.
I ask Wise to further describe his works. His descriptions are as moving as the works themselves. He calls them energy-ways, saying, “The inner connectedness of this life and much before is trailing through us like an acid trip, creating this ever growing system of specific ways and means within the human soul that were built specifically to facilitate the express movement from who we might be today toward that which is possible tomorrow and beyond.”
Gazing at a design drawing piece titled ‘Infrastructure Plate 911’, it is easy to understand what Wise is talking about. One sees that there is movement and there is purpose. At first glance you get the sense that he is suggesting that global connection and inner wholeness is the way we really ought to think about going next. And at the most basic level, it is what all-great art [and people] should become, both simple and complex.
As he gives me the artist tour of his works waiting to be displayed in the March show, I ask him how he got this showing. Wise laughs saying, “it involves the Los Angeles Police, are you sure you want to know?” He goes on to tell me how he met one of the owners of the gallery at a Christmas party. He corrects himself and says, holiday party, a witty gesture to the woes of political correctness. He then looks at me intently and tells how the gallery is about to be torn down.
What do you say to a man who feels blessed to be in the land of freeways yet at the same time has intense sensitivity to the pain of encroachment of fresh concrete towards art history? Of course, I ask him to tell me more. Apparently the Los Angeles Police want the land to build a five-story parking garage. When Wise put two and two together, he approached gallery owner Martha Higgins and they developed the idea of having a show that used the notion of eminent domain hoping to bring light to and encroach on these plans to “pave paradise, and put up a parking lot” he tells me with a smile, reminding me of the Amy Grant song of the same name from the 80’s.
Wise goes on to tell me about the history of the gallery and how when the downtown gallery district was created years earlier that the meetings were held in this place, what is now the M.J. Higgins gallery. When I comment that we are spending as much time on the issue of this historic building as we are on his art. “It’s an important issue.” He says. “My art will not be torn down, except perhaps by the critics.” “This art,” He points at the incredible gallery space around him, “May well be torn down, and what then are we going to do?” We talk about the absurdity of tearing down this gallery, not to mention that this building is one of Downtown LA’s oldest.
Wise says, “the downtown Los Angeles Galleries association’s Bill of Rights was signed right here in this place by a group of artful fore people, and they are going to tear it down? That’s crazy! Why that’s like tearing down the Thomas Jefferson Memorial to build a new freeway ramp to the bridge over the Potomac River basin, or like strip mining in front of the capital or drilling for oil beneath the White House lawn” he says with a smile.
Stopping in front of one of his works of interconnected roadways on an incredible scale, he continues in his rebellious tone. “Aren’t there enough cars and roads and garages in Los Angeles? And isn’t there enough land to where those focused on safety and security could go elsewhere and leave this historic building alone?” “With every artist that comes through here putting themselves and their art out into history people are liberated toward their own since of evolution just a tiny bit more than they would have been otherwise, and something is left behind for all to enjoy, ART, and when put up against a police garage, how can that be more important than creating art? When Ben Franklin said ‘They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety’ he said it all.”
Wise calls the Los Angeles Police’s action irresponsible eminent domain. And with a smile reminds me to make sure the publicity gets out there. Not only about his show, but also for all the shows that will [potentially] be missed once this space is gone. You can see the selected works from the Eminent Domain Project of Roland Wise at the M.J. Higgins Gallery in Downtown Los Angeles from March 18th-April 30th, 2006.
Gazing at a design drawing piece titled ‘Infrastructure Plate 911’, it is easy to understand what Wise is talking about. One sees that there is movement and there is purpose. At first glance you get the sense that he is suggesting that global connection and inner wholeness is the way we really ought to think about going next. And at the most basic level, it is what all-great art [and people] should become, both simple and complex.
Stopping in front of one of his works of interconnected roadways on an incredible scale, he continues in his rebellious tone. “Aren’t there enough cars and roads and garages in Los Angeles? And isn’t there enough land to where those focused on safety and security could go elsewhere and leave this historic building alone?” “With every artist that comes through here putting themselves and their art out into history people are liberated toward their own since of evolution just a tiny bit more than they would have been otherwise, and something is left behind for all to enjoy, ART, and when put up against a police garage, how can that be more important than creating art? When Ben Franklin said ‘They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety’ he said it all.”
