Artist to Autograph Chatsworth Poster at Bob’s Big Boy 'Cruise Night'

From the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority:

Bob’s Big Boy will host a conversation and poster-signing with Chatsworth artist Danny Heller on Friday from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. during the popular “” at 8876 Corbin Ave. in Northridge.

The is part of the “Through the Eyes of Artists” series commissioned by Metro Creative Services. The posters, depicting various neighborhoods served by Metro, are displayed throughout the county's transit system.

The artist will sign and give away first-edition prints, an enviable collector’s item for residents as well as art and local history enthusiasts. The event is free to the public.

In the poster, : a two-toned 1955 Chevy Bel Air cruising down Topanga Canyon Boulevard while a trio of grazing horses peer through a corral alongside the landmark Stoney Point rock formation.

Heller describes the inspiration for the poster: “I really want to give a sense of the still very open landscape of this part of the Valley. The classic car culture out here is pretty big and it helps to show the main thoroughfare through town: Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Stoney Point/Rocky Peak is also an iconic feature of the landscape."

Heller is a painter from Northridge. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley, where he studied the Los Angeles landscape. While under the instruction of landscape painter Hank Pitcher, he earned a bachelor's degree in art, with an emphasis on painting, at the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Heller develops his works in his Chatsworth studio and depicts mid-century Los Angeles with a focus on architecture and car culture. His paintings have been exhibited at venues that include Judith Kaufman Gallery, Art Basel and LA Art Show.

The Chatsworth poster is No. 22 in the series of posters commissioned by Metro Creative Services. Posters in the series have garnered a Print Magazine Regional Design Annual Excellence Award, a Tranny Merit Award, a “Fresh” Illustrations Award from Illustrations Magazine Annual, a Los Angeles Society of Illustrators Silver Medal, and a Society of Environmental Graphic Design Award.

In the tradition of celebrating transportation through colorful travel destination posters, Metro commissions a diverse range of Los Angeles artists to create original artworks. The purpose of the series is to express the distinctive character of neighborhoods and destinations served by Metro. The posters are displayed throughout the Metro system, including on trains and buses, in stations and various other locations.

Metro Creative Services includes the agency’s in-house design studio, which creates Metro’s brand communications, and the agency’s art and design excellence programs, which commission wide-ranging projects by visual artists and promote overall design quality of customer environments. From intelligently designed, user-friendly customer information, engaging and effective advertising and a newly designed fleet of buses and trains to large scale site-specific artworks by world-class artists.

Metro employs art and design to create a sense of place, engage transit riders, and improve quality of life throughout Los Angeles County.

For more information about Metro’s art programs and its free docent-guided tours, visit metro.net/art or call 213/922-4ART.