The Light Beneath (LA River Painting 76)
Artist
John Kosta
Date2023
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of the Artist
Object number2024.006
DescriptionArtist Statement: Artists throughout the ages have painted the grand rivers of their youth. Parishas the Seine River painted by Monet, London the Thames painted by Turner, and Rome has the
Tiber painted by Delaroche. While Angelenos have the L.A. River, perhaps the most-filmed river in
the world, it remains relatively absent from the world of fine art. It is a river submerged in the
public’s consciousness, always present, and yet mostly invisible. Today, I paint it to tell its story.
Just south of downtown Los Angeles, a band of light shines between two freeway bridges onto the
concrete banks and floor of the Los Angeles River. The eight parallel arches of the older Santa
Monica Freeway Bridge, on the left, contrast with the more contemporary structural engineering
of the newer bridge to the right. Mere inches of water along the river bottom create a geometric
composition of shimmering polygons and bold angles. It is a peaceful river scene of a place where
tens of thousands of autos commute daily, unaware of the beauty below them.
Painted primarily with transparent glazes of ocher, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue, this work is
an example of my current painting explorations attempting to push the possibilities that can be
found in the transparency of oil paint as a primary means of application, and the contrast it creates
with the more thickly applied impasto in the lighter areas of the composition.
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