November 15, 2004

L.A. Lady

Leora Lutz Paintings

There are some people who just barely tolerate Los Angeles.

You know. For the sake of their job. Or their spouse. Or their soon-to-be-a-has-been kid’s acting career.

To hell with them. Let’s talk about the people who love it. For the Day-glo sunsets. And the hiking-trail dust that gets under their fingernails. And the feel of a gas pedal under their nearly bare feet.

Painter Leora Lutz knows the type. Her 5-inch-by-5-inch city silhouettes capture the essence of this town — the strange mixture of urban and tropical (telephone wires and palm trees), the unnatural hues (cotton-candy blue, bubble-gum pink, creamsicle orange), the skies that look both vaguely toxic and heartbreakingly beautiful at the same time.

Lutz is a fan of the city from way back. Her favorite view? From the 134 in Eagle Rock. (But only “when the weather is right.”) And her depictions of it are proof that, for some, there’s no lovelier, sexier, or cooler place on earth.

But we trust you already knew that.

Paintings available online at auntbeep.com.