L.A. Subway, No. 2, Los Angeles, California

Masumi Hayashi’s 1991 panoramic photo collage L.A. Subway, No. 2, Los Angeles, California completes her paired documentation of Los Angeles’s Metro Rail Red Line with a monumentally-scaled 28×79-inch panorama capturing the subway’s architectural scale and spatial complexity. The work’s exceptional width (over 6.5 feet!) paralleled the Hebrew Garden’s 96-inch monumentality, demonstrating Hayashi’s willingness to push format boundaries for subjects warranting extraordinary scale—accepting exhibition challenges to achieve representational ambition matching infrastructure’s actual magnitude and urban significance. 1’s commercial success, validating the paired works’ positioning as premium urban infrastructure documentation meriting elevated pricing. The series’ complete distribution across both works suggested strong market recognition of LA Subway’s historical significance and Hayashi’s successful positioning of transit infrastructure photography as significant contemporary art engaging urban transformation and modernist architectural themes.

Format: Monumental Infrastructure Documentation

The 28×79-inch dimensions (1:2.8 ratio, 79-inch width = 6.5 feet!) created one of Hayashi’s most monumentally scaled City Works pieces, reflecting the subway infrastructure’s actual scale and architectural ambition. The format served multiple purposes:

Infrastructure Scale Representation: The monumental width paralleled subway architecture’s vast scales—platforms extending hundreds of feet, tunnels boring through earth at massive diameters, underground spaces creating civic architecture rivaling above-ground monuments.

Series Culmination: As second LA Subway work, No. 2’s larger scale created dramatic series conclusion—building from No. 1’s substantial 60-inch width to No. 2’s 79-inch monumentality, reserving maximum format ambition for paired work’s climax.

Documentary Ambition: The extraordinary scale demonstrated Hayashi’s commitment to representational fidelity—documenting major infrastructure at scales approaching experiential reality even when creating exhibition challenges limiting display opportunities.

Urban Infrastructure as Contemporary Art

The LA Subway series’ premium pricing and complete distribution illustrated successful positioning of urban infrastructure documentation as significant contemporary photography worthy of premium collector investment. This positioning transformed functional transit documentation into artistic meditation on urban transformation, modernist architecture, and Los Angeles’s identity evolution—elevating mundane infrastructure photography to artwork engaging complex urban, architectural, and cultural themes.

Related Works

• L.A. Subway, No. 1 (02011) - Paired documentation, similar premium success
• Cultural Gardens #3, Hebrew (02005) - Comparable monumental scale (96”)
• Cleveland Stadium (02001) - Monumental civic infrastructure documentation

Series Context

L.A. Subway, No. 2 completes Hayashi’s paired documentation of Los Angeles’s revolutionary transit infrastructure, employing monumental panoramic format to match the subway’s architectural and urban significance. The work’s premium pricing, exceptional scale, and complete distribution positioned it as highly successful urban infrastructure photography demonstrating that transit documentation could command premium collector interest when successfully framed as significant contemporary art engaging urban transformation themes.

---

Dimensions: 28 × 79 inches (monumental panorama, 6.5 feet wide!, 1:2.8 ratio) Year: 1991 Medium: Panoramic Photo Collage Film: 3.5-foot width) Market Success: Complete distribution at premium pricing validates infrastructure documentation positioning