Urban Light

A casual walk around Los Angeles exposes one to so many murals that it’s almost easy to take them for granted. Public art can be found everywhere, from the individually designed L.A. metro stations to the utility boxes that dot the sidewalk. Here are 12 spectacular public artworks anyone can visit.
You might be surprised to see a large, stainless steel bust of Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin sitting serenely at the corner of La Brea and 4th as though it’s always been there. But this sculpture from Chinese artists The Gao Brothers has been around since 2011 when it appeared in a show at the nearby Ace Museum. Though known to most as Lenin’s Head, the sculpture is accurately conveyed by its formal name: it’s a tiny Mao Zedong attempting to balance atop Lenin’s bald head. It is one of several artworks that the brothers created depicting Mao in a diminutive or feminine way.