The downtown central branch of the Los Angeles Public Library has several important walls. They’re not ordinary walls, but were visually, artistically, and architecturally created, to express a wide-range of thought, wisdom, and philosophy. The famous poet, Robert Frost is well known for his oft repeated and well-proven quote that:
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”
At the Mark Taper Auditorium, written thoughts, when encapsulated into an emotion, are further brought to “life” via architecture and design on walls, window frames, and fences by various artist’s quotes and musings on life.
In this case, the walls do, indeed talk to us:
"A hole is to dig, a book is to look at."
“There is no friend more obliging than a book” by Alfonso Reyes
"The more that you read, the more things you’ll know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go." by Dr. Seuss
Life’s immortal and axiomatic truisms are as simple as that. On these various photos, the artist, Ries Niemi, used quotations about books and knowledge, which were selected by him and local librarians for these installations. They’re inscribed into 9 different languages that are frequently spoken here, in the great melting pot of Los Angeles.
Entitled “Literate Fence” and measuring approximately 100 feet long and 9 feet tall, this combination of thought, architecture, and books, connects the 1927 Bertram Goodhue era Los Angeles Central Library, with its 1993 addition by the architectural firm led by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer.
Whenever one gate closes another opens. When and how, we’re frequently left to find out unexpectedly.
