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The fifteen-foot monumental gate was created by sculptor Ani Kupelian, who designed and built the work in her studio in Canoga Park, Los Angeles. Set on ten rollers and four ground brakes mounted on an eight by four foot base, the fifteen-foot high, one-ton, steel structure took two years of labor to erect. Having had sheet metal cut and bent to the specifications of her mechanical drawings, she assembled the structure by drilling, welding and bolting it together in her studio. Military aircraft colors of olive-green and gray were chosen from the Federal Standard Colors. A bright red enamel was employed for the wooden, serpentine line that runs along the interior of the passageway. An industrial coating company applied the finish.
Exploring the appearances of gates and triumphal arches through the history of art and architecture, Ani Kupelian contemplated works including those of Michelangelo and Rodin and the St. Louis Arch. She then applied her own contemporary interpretation of a gate as a combination of cultural exchange and passage from a physical to a mental state, yet conversely, as a barrier against intrusion or escape.
© 2001, Ani Kupelian
