THE FIRST COMPONENT OF EGYPTIAN ARTIST SHERIN GUIRGUIS’ WORK “RISE” IS NOW IN PLACE
A new artwork was recently installed at Aviation/Century Station, which is currently under construction. The artwork is the first component of Rise by Sherin Guirguis. It will be followed by 10 additional full color artworks comprised of porcelain enamel steel on station structures. The intent is to create the effect of walking through a three-dimensional painting.
Alluding to architectural ironworks adorning nearby homes, two parallel painted steel artworks mirror each other along either side of the elevated rail platform. The geometric patterns blend western minimalism with eastern ornamentation, referencing the artist’s birthplace (Egypt) and her journey to Los Angeles, and incorporating themes of migration and the intersection of cultural histories.
As a regular Metro rider, Guirguis wanted to connect the experiences of people from many different backgrounds as they converge in the public space of transit. A prominent visual feature of the station, the artwork will connect Metro transit to LAX airport and welcome the international community.
Guirguis was born in Luxor, Egypt in 1974. She received her BA from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and her MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Raised in Cairo, she lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She is Associate Professor of the Practice of Fine Art at the University of Southern California. Guirguis has had solo museum exhibitions at the Crafts and Folk Art Museum of Los Angeles (2018), the American University’s Tahrir Cultural Center, Cairo (2019) and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (2013). Her work was features in Desert X 2017 and has also been shown internationally in Dubai and Sharjah, UAE; Gudalajara, Mexico; Frankfurt, Germany and Venice, Italy.
