Hollywood Walk of Fame Monument
Photography
Landscape
48 x 36
$1500

Pacific Theater – Pacific Tower
Photography
Landscape
48 x 36
$1500

Cinegrill – Roosevelt Hotel
Photography
Landscape
20 x 25
$475

Chateau Marmont
Photography
Landscape
20 x 25
$750

American Cinematheque/Pig n’ Whistle
Photography
Landscape
20 x 25
$450

Comedy & Tragedy
Photography
Landscape
20 x 25
$550

Hollywood Center Motel
Photography
Landscape
20 x 25
$475

Miracle Mile
Photography
Landscape
20 x 25
$350

Ty Philips's bio:

Artist Statement:

...“Life’s what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans”

LA was nothing like I expected.  Sure, we all have ideas, images of Hollywood & Los Angeles, cobbled together from childhood trips to Disneyland & the Farmer’s Market; from friends’ personal anecdotes; from watching the Oscars on TV and seeing LA portrayed in myriad films over the years.  But to actually LIVE in the place—that was an altogether different proposition, especially for a typical ‘gosh-darn it’ CANUCK like me...

It was during this time, while pursuing my Hollywood dream—the commuting back and forth, driving here and there throughout Los Angeles and the Valley—that I began to notice these beautiful beacons of light which reminded me of Vancouver and in particular the history I knew of; How Granville Street had once boasted more NEON than Las Vegas, but how it had been systematically annexed from the streets and my own cityscape many years before I had taken any notice.

So while I was exploring the notion of bright lights, flashbulbs and all the associated glamour that personifies Hollywood, I decided to take active note of my new surroundings and capture my own version of it through the lens of my camera....................................
                       
That’s when ‘Hollywood by Light’ was born and what began innocently enough that very night was an undertaking which, at the time, gave me no idea of its true magnitude.  After shooting Hollywood neon for several successive evenings, I realized just how many stores, restaurants, hotels and major Hollywood landmarks were boldly branded by the alluring gaseous lights.  A distraction if you will, to my unnerving plight as an ex-pat CANADIAN trying to ‘make it big’, soon became an obsession.

For this framed collection, I narrowed it down to about 2 dozen select images which I find personally compelling for various reasons. For some of these, it’s just the great vibrancy of colors that seem surreally suspended in the black of night.  For others, it was the stuff that happened—the unfolding stories the evening I finally realized particular compositions that had eluded me for so long—which make them extra special.  Also included are some signs which hitherto, have sadly been destroyed.  And for the rest, I’ve chosen a small cross-section of undeniably cool neon exclusive to ‘Hollywood’s own’ glorious glass and ionized gas icons of the light… and of the night!

Why neon you ask?  The answer is as multi-facetted as many of the signs I’ve included in this project: Neon is the perfect melding of art, sculpture and glass—three elements about which I am passionate. A neon sign involves shape, color, design & placement; it’s architecture. It’s the sum of all these criteria for which the culmination is a compelling advertisement if all the elements are reasoned, balanced, understood and well-executed. But even more than this, it’s history, culture and narrative. Many of the signs I’ve photographed are significant. Possibly because they were the first of their kind to adorn some of the most famous places in the area known as ‘Hollywoodland’, to which celebrities of the day would be guided by their beacon. Or possibly because the signs themselves became almost as iconic as the land­marks they promoted. Or maybe because, like the flickering embers of a collective passion that once burned brightly, they are the last surviving evidence of places no longer on our cultural maps.

In shooting ‘Hollywood by Light’, I have tried to capture in some small way, the essence of each place using the media of neon to light a path to its doors. Some images are immediately familiar, their designs and advertisements easily recognizable. Others are lesser known, perhaps because their representations are antiquated, their names no longer relevant or their gaseous tubes no longer able to emit the brilliant colors they once did, having now become simply extinguished relics of a bygone era.

Whatever the case may be, each place I’ve chosen to include in the entire series has a unique story to tell. It may have started as early as the 1930’s and is yet undiminished. It might be contemporary and has taken its cue from so many of its predecessors or it may fall somewhere in between, its origins uncertain but certainly not unappreciated or indeed, unnoticed.

One thing is sure. They all have something in common; NEON to mark their place in the night and give an indelibly timeless impression of who they are.

I hope you enjoy ‘Hollywood by Light’ as much as I have enjoyed photographing the many wonderful places it represents.

Artist Bio:

• “I got my first real camera for my 8th birthday. It was a Kodak Instamatic 110. I still remember the box it came in.  I took that camera with me everywhere. Of course I didn’t understood the medium very well, but knew I liked taking pictures and it wasn’t long before I realized I wanted to take better ones!  So photography became somewhat of a pass-time and although I didn’t possess the skills I have today, I had found something of great interest to me and was eager to learn how to be more creative and how to make good pictures look great.  I took my share of pictures growing up but it wasn’t until after graduation that I started taking photography more seriously.   I received a Pentax K-1000 as a gift from a friend and immediately enrolled in classes at a photography school and started working on several projects. While honing my technical skills and learning more about color, light, composition and atmosphere, I also began experimenting with the balance between the aesthetic and practical aspects of photography using what new knowledge I had gained to influence my approach.  It was during that time that I started to gain a much greater understanding of my visual experience of photography and what it was about the medium that intrigued me so much:  The objective and subjective context of photographic subjects and the respective values of each; the balance between documentary and personal expression in still images; the relationships among form, function, style and emotion and ultimately, the collision of science & art.”