“The Green movement is today’s Space Age.”
That’s what Diego Cardoso of Los Angeles, Calif., had to say.
He went on to say that the green movement is going to open the doors to new inventions in technology, new jobs, and a new way of looking at our place in the solar system. In other words, Green is the new frontier.
Diego Cardoso works for Los Angeles’ Metro and is a passionate man in the world of public transit. Besides putting together major subway lines in one of the biggest metropolises on the planet, he is an artist. He paints the freeways of L.A. He paints strips of buildings in downtown. He paints cars and trucks and street signs. He paints the interiors of clubs and restaurants. His colors are bold and bright, and he takes care to be true to the landscape that he chooses to convey. He claims that Edward Hopper and Vincent Van Gogh are two of his inspiration because of their work with light and color.
In short, Cardoso takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. A man walking into the horizon carries a plastic bag. There is a pink bathroom in a park. There is a truck on the freeway with boxes in the back of it. A man sells watermelons on the side of the street wearing red shoes.
Another favorite quote of Cardoso’s is that “the future of Los Angeles is already here.” According to him, the new Los Angeles is happening now, but we are all seeing it through windshields rather than experiencing it on foot or with others on public transit. After all, you can’t see the color of a person’s shoes while speeding (or stopping and going) down the 405.
At first glance, the link between Cardoso’s work and the green movement might elude the viewer. But it’s city life that need a good look in terms of green. Cardoso takes care to portray what we might miss. In reality, the fact that we have highways and trucks and subways and parks and trash cans and all those “daily,” is, in fact, amazing! Consider someone from the mid-nineteenth century and his or her reaction of what humankind has built on the planet. The word “awestruck” comes to mind. We’d be good to remember this and use our creative energies to re-create the cities that we hope for socially, environmentally, and culturally.
After all, man’s one small step and humankind’s big leap was on foot, not in an SUV.
