A Nearly Life-Sized Los Angeles City Block Made of Cardboard

Rice Gallery in Houston, Texas commissioned Los Angeles-based artist Ana Serrano to create Salon of Beauty, a beautiful nearly life-sized Los Angeles city block out of cardboard. Walley Films filmed Ana for the short documentary titled Ana Serrano: Salon of Beauty. The installation is currently open at Rice Gallery and runs through December 11, 2011.

From the Salon of Beauty exhibition page at Rice Gallery:

Serrano saw the title, Salon of Beauty, hand-painted on the side of a small beauty salon. She was struck by the phrase’s slightly awkward, yet poetic quality. Later she realized it was a literal translation of the Spanish phrase, Salón De Belleza, which normally would be translated into English as “Beauty Salon.” The circumstances of how she found the phrase and the word “beauty” resonated perfectly for Serrano in her hope to point out what she calls “untraditional beauty.”

Far from a reproduction of a Los Angeles block, Salon of Beauty is Serrano’s imaginary version of a neighborhood where the smallest details have been plucked away from the maelstrom of the city and playfully mixed together. As she explains, “I wanted to pull out everything that I liked in the city and then condense it.”