Beasts Mark Territory in Century City

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The newest art gallery in Los Angeles is only about 10 feet wide. But it’s also a mile long, stretching the length of Century City’s Avenue of the Stars.

The Century City Chamber of Commerce and a handful of sponsors this month installed 22 bronze sculptures along the avenue’s median between Santa Monica and Pico boulevards. It’s the first in what Century City leaders hope will be an ongoing series of public art displays along the avenue.

The statues, all by L.A. sculptor Gwynn Murrill, are life-size depictions of animals, such as bighorn sheep, coyotes, mountain lions and an eagle. Art dealer Carl Schlosberg, a Century City resident and curator of the new exhibit, said inspiration for the display came from New York’s Park Avenue, where there have been public sculpture displays since the late 1990s.

The pieces are on loan from Murrill and will be surrounded by new landscaping from exhibition sponsor ValleyCrest Landscape Cos. of Calabasas. Installation costs were covered by donors, including Schlosberg, Venice art gallery L.A. Louver and Century City investment advisory group Gainsborough Capital LLC.

Jean Tardy-Vallernaud, managing partner at Gainsborough, is chairman of the chamber’s arts council. He said public art is vital for Century City and the tens of thousands who work or live in the area.

“It may at times appear a bit too sanitized and dry,” he said. “Art is a dimension that human beings ought to have and it was missing here.”

The plan is to display Murrill’s sculptures for a year, then replace it with different art. Schlosberg said that would require finding another artist who has a body of work that could fill the milelong corridor.

But he also said he’s not thinking about the next exhibition yet.

“It’s too early,” he said. “We have to sit back and enjoy these first.”

– James Rufus Koren

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