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Video: Echo Park's Phantasma Gloria Artist Explains His Massive, Glass Sculpture
A new short documentary introduces us to Randy Lawrence and the massive, enchanting glass sculpture that now takes up the front lawn of his Echo Park home.
Randyland comes from Two-Ninety Film and Matthew Kaundart, who previously brought us a similar doc on cardboard artist Calder Greenwood. Kaundart tells LAist that Randyland is part of a short film series called The Rolodex that explores Los Angeles' "underground community of artists, educators and nontraditional thinkers."
"I'm most interested in documenting individuals that have a unique perspective on the world—an outlook that might not be easily understood. The mission of each film is to cram the audience inside the skull of that artist and experience the world through their eyes. By having access to a new outlook and perspective, I'm hoping viewers will be able to empathize with each film's character in a very real way," Kaundart said.
Randy has an effervescent personality from the second he appears on screen. He has created what he calls the Phantasma Gloria at 'Randyland,' his home in Echo Park. This is Randy's fourth big sculpture, and takes its inspiration from the Virgin of Guadalupe.
"Although I'm not an orthodox believer myself, nevertheless, she kept pestering me in my waking hours, 'build me, build me, build me!' And I thought, 'putting a 30-foot virgin in your front yard, how can I not do it?'" Randy says in the film.
The sculpture is made of steel, glass and water, though it's much more complicated than that, as Randy cheerfully explains. The sculpture interacts with the sun, reflecting the world around it in each colorful glass vessel.
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According to Atlas Obscura, Randy has been working on the piece for over 10 years. You can keep up with Randy's work via the Randyland Facebook page.
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