Neon signs, security cameras and a murder site: How the city streets inspired these Made in L.A. artists

Somehow successful Los Angeles, everything comes backmost to traffic.

While making their works featured successful the Hammer Museum’s Made successful L.A. biennial, artists Patrick Martinez, Freddy Villalobos and Gabriela Ruiz acceptable retired to seizure the essence of the city’s crammed streets done antithetic lenses.

For implicit a decade, the Hammer has curated its Made successful L.A. bid to diagnostic artists who grapple with the realities of surviving and making creation here. It’s an creation amusement that simultaneously pays homage to bequest L.A. artists similar Alonzo Davis and Judy Baca, and gives a level to newer faces specified arsenic Lauren Halsey and Jackie Amezquita.

This year’s show, which opened past month, features 28 artists. As portion of that cohort, Martinez, Villalobos and Ruiz bring their lived experiences arsenic Latinos from L.A. to the West Side creation institution, drafting inspiration from the landscapes of their upbringing.

While creating their displayed works, Martinez took enactment of the galore neon signs hanging successful stores’ windows, starring him to marque “Hold the Ice,” an anti-ICE sign, and incorporated agleam pinkish lights into his outdoor cinder artifact mural, “Battle of the City connected Fire.” With flashing lights and a shuttered gross tacked onto a painted woody panel, Ruiz drew connected her experiences exploring the metropolis astatine nighttime and the over-surveillance of prime neighborhoods successful the interactive piece, “Collective Scream.” Villalobos filmed Figueroa Street from a driver’s perspective, observing the street’s nighttime enactment and tracing the vigor that surrounds the spot wherever psyche vocalist Sam Cooke was shot.

This year, Made successful L.A. doesn’t beryllium to a circumstantial taxable oregon a rubric — but arsenic always, the selected creation remains interconnected. These 3 artists sat down with De Los to sermon however their L.A. upbringing has influenced their creator signifier and however their exhibited works are successful conversation. Made successful L.A. volition beryllium connected presumption until March 1, 2026.

The pursuing speech has been condensed and edited for clarity.

All 3 of you look to enactment a spotlight connected assorted elements of L.A.’s nationalist spaces. How is your creation affected by your surroundings?

Ruiz: I truly got to research L.A. arsenic a whole, done partying and going retired astatine night. I similar seeing this metropolis astatine night, due to the fact that determination isn’t truthful overmuch traffic. That’s however I started my creation practice. I would execute successful queer nightlife spaces and propulsion parties successful inexpensive warehouses. With my commute from the Valley, I would announcement truthful much. I wouldn’t velocity done the freeway. I’d alternatively instrumentality antithetic routes, truthful I’d larn to navigate the full metropolis without a GPS and spot things differently.

Martinez: That’s besides however I started seeing neons. I had a workplace successful 2006 successful downtown, disconnected 6th and Alameda. I would hold for postulation to slice due to the fact that I was staying successful Montebello astatine the time. I would thrust down Whittier Boulevard astatine night. And you spot each the neon signs that person a ace saturated colour and glow bright. I thought astir its messaging. None of the businesses were unfastened that late. They were conscionable letting radical cognize they were there.

Ruiz: Specifically successful this portion [“Collective Scream”], there’s a blinking thoroughfare lamp. It reminds maine of erstwhile I would permission raves and would randomly spot this flickering light. It’s this hypnotizing happening that I would observe and instrumentality enactment of whenever I was connected the aforesaid route. There’s besides a moving gate, [in my piece,] that resembles the ones you spot erstwhile you’re driving precocious astatine nighttime and everything’s gated up.

Villalobos: You bash acquisition a batch of L.A. from your car. It’s a cliche. But f— it. It’s true. When I moved retired of L.A., I felt a small odd. I missed the bubble of my car. You tin person what seems to beryllium a backstage infinitesimal successful your car successful a metropolis that’s packed with postulation and truthful galore people. It made maine deliberation astir what that means, what benignant of routes radical are taking and however we cultivate community.

Patrick Martinez’s “Battle of the City connected Fire,” made successful 2025, was inspired by the enactment of the muralist collective, named the East Los Streetscapers.

(Sarah M Golonka / smg photography)

It’s absorbing that you each recovered inspiration successful the biggest complaints astir L.A. Maybe there’s thing to deliberation astir erstwhile it comes to the mode those calved present deliberation of car civilization and traffic.

Martinez: I spot its effects adjacent with the landscapes I make. I’ll enactment from near to right, and that’s however we each look astatine the satellite erstwhile we drive. I ever deliberation astir Michael Mann movies erstwhile I’m making landscapes, particularly astatine night. He has each those moments of quiescent clip of being successful the car and conscionable focusing connected what’s going on.

Beyond surveying the streets, your works interaction connected elements of the past. There’s a communal conception that L.A. tends to disregard its past, similar erstwhile bequest restaurants unopen down oregon erstwhile architectural feats get demolished. Does this thought play immoderate relation successful your work?

Martinez: The thought of L.A. being ashamed of its past pushed maine to enactment with cinder blocks [in “Battle of the City connected Fire”]. One of the main reasons was to bring attraction to the East Los Streetscapers, the muralists who painted successful East L.A. [in the 1960s and ‘70s arsenic a portion of the Chicano Mural Movement]. There was this 1 mural successful Boyle Heights that was painted astatine a Shell state station. It was aboriginal knocked down and successful the demolition pictures, the mode the cinder blocks were connected the level looked similar a sculptural painting. It prompted maine to usage cinder blocks arsenic a signifier of sculpture and deliberation astir what benignant of modern-day ruins we walk by.

Villalobos: Speaking astir L.A. arsenic a full feels astir excessively expansive for me. But if I deliberation astir my circumstantial neighborhood, successful South Central, what comes to my caput is Black Radical Tradition. It’s wherever radical are capable to marque thing retired of what different radical mightiness comprehend arsenic nothing. There’s ever thing that’s being created and mixed and mashed unneurotic to marque thing that, to me, is beautiful. It’s possibly not arsenic beauteous to different people, but it’s inactive a caller and originative mode to spot things and recognize what comes earlier us.

Ruiz: Seeing my parents, who migrated to this country, travel from thing and commencement from scratch ties into that thought too. Seeing what they’ve been capable to attain, and knowing however immigrants tin commencement up businesses and restaurants here, speaks truthful overmuch to what L.A. is truly about. It’s astir providing an accidental that everybody has.

So it’s little astir disregarding the past and much astir making thing retired of nothing?

Martinez: It ties backmost to necessity, for me. Across this city, radical travel unneurotic by doing what they request to bash to wage rent. It’s a brainsick magnitude of wealth to beryllium here. People request to regularly set what they bash to survive. Recently, I’ve been seeing that much rapidly. There are much nutrient vendors and scrolling LED signs, advertizing antithetic things. Once you recognize however costly this backdrop tin be, that worldly sits with me.

Freddy Villalobos’ “waiting for the chromatic to speak, for I cognize thing of aventure,” is an immersive enactment successful which viewers tin consciousness large vibrations walk arsenic they, figuratively, question down Figueroa Street.

(Sarah M Golonka / smg photography)

We’ve talked a batch astir however the past affects L.A. and the relation it plays successful your art. Does a aboriginal L.A. ever transverse your mind?

Villalobos: I consciousness precise self-conscious astir what I’m gonna say. But arsenic overmuch arsenic I emotion L.A. and arsenic overmuch arsenic it helped maine go who I am, I wouldn’t beryllium excessively huffy with it falling apart. A batch of radical from my vicinity person already been moving to Lancaster, Palmdale and the Inland Empire. When I spell to the IE, it feels a small similar L.A. and I’m not needfully huffy astatine that.

Ruiz: It’s truly hard to spot what the aboriginal holds for anybody. Even with art, what’s going to happen? I don’t know. It’s truly challenging to spot a aboriginal erstwhile there’s a changeless rhythm of atrocious quality astir censorship and deficiency of funding.

Martinez: It’s murky. It’s clouded. This full twelvemonth has been truthful heavy, and everyone talking astir it adds to it, right? We’re facing economical despair, and it’s each benignant of heavy. Who knows what the aboriginal volition hold? But determination are decidedly moves being made by the ruling people to marque it into something.