"Lost Angeles"
Mark Vallen 1992
Oil on canvas - 8" x 10"

Artist's statement:

"I did this small oil painting after witnessing the Rodney King riots of April 29th, 1992. The painting was an attempt to capture the visage of L.A.'s palms trees set ablaze during the mayhem.

The internationally famous icon of sunny southern California - the palm tree - lighting the violence torn streets of my city was truly a vision from hell. Since that devastating evening I have not been able to look at palm trees in the same way.

I treated this work as a sketch rather than a finished painting, and today I'm working on a series of larger, more detailed paintings based on the same subject."