floating art balls McArthur Park lake 2015

Amazing art! Huge floating balls on McArthur Park lake in L.A.

Big balls floating on McArthur Park lake
It’s art! Hundreds of handpainted, inflated balls are now floating on the surface of McArthur Park lake in Los Angeles

I decided to take a break from writing my new novel (as yet unnamed) and catch the Metro to McArthur Park where new public art was being installed today. It is absolutely astonishing!  Huge inflatable balls have been hand painted, inflated, tethered together, and anchored on the 8.5 acre McArthur Park lake in Los Angeles.

canoes to carry the floating balls
Canoes are used to drag the floating balls out into the 8.5 acre lake

The organization sponsoring this is called Portraits of Hope.  According to their PR material, this installation is “a continuation of the program’s large scale national projects which have visually transformed and brightened public settings and symbols ranging from the NYC taxi fleet…to NASCAR”…to laundromats.  Remember those wildly painted lifeguard towers along the beach a couple of summers ago?  The bright pattern encircling the L.A. Convention Center? These are the people responsible for them.

Okay.  Here is what I saw.

floating chain of inflated balls mcarthur park lake
A chain of floating balls tethered together in an art installation on McArthur Park lake.
how big are the floating balls
How big are those balls floating in the McArthur Park lake?
Assembling and inflating the balls for the floating art
The assembly area on a deck at the edge of the lake. Not much action at the time I took this. Everyone was going to lunch.
rocks to anchor the balls McArthur Park art installation
Rocks in net bags are used to anchor the floating balls on the lake. The balls are tethered together.
Man preaching in McArthurs Park Los Angeles 2015
On my way back to the Metro I came across this man preaching in the Park. I suspect he does this often.
mural mcarthur park metro station
It was well over 90F when I decided to leave. On my way I snapped this shot of one of the many murals in the McArthur Park Metro station.