City of West Hollywood Announces Temporary Art Installation on the Santa Monica Boulevard Median at N. Doheny Drive: ‘The Seven Sisters’ by Matthias Neumann

The City of West Hollywood announces the installation of The Seven Sisters, a temporary public artwork by internationally recognized artist and architect Matthias Neumann. As part of the City's Art on the Outside program, the sculptural installation is now on view along the Santa Monica Boulevard median at N. Doheny Drive. Photos of the installation can be found on the City's official Flickr page.

Rooted in one of humanity's most enduring celestial stories, The Seven Sisters draws inspiration from the global mythology of the Pleiades star cluster. In the Greek legend, the daughters of Altas and the nymph Pleione are pursued by Orion until Zeus transforms them into stars, one of which eventually fades from visibility.

Variations of this tale appear across cultures from the Americas to Australia, each describing seven girls who become stars, with one no longer seen. Astronomers believe the Pleiades may indeed have shone as seven bright stars roughly 100,000 years ago, and anthropologists suggest these parallel myths may reflect a shared ancestral memory carried across early human migrations.

Positioned prominently along Santa Monica Boulevard, Neumann's installation celebrates this remarkable cross-cultural narrative, inviting viewers to contemplate a poetic connection to our collective human past.

The Seven Sisters is comprised of six sculptures, each a distinct formal variation derived from a single expressive idea. Ranging in size from 6 to 16 feet high, each work is constructed from approximately 100 pieces of high-grade 2x4 lumber. Painted in durable outdoor acrylic colors and built around an internal metal armature mounted to concrete bases, the sculptures form a cohesive family of structures that share a visual language while remaining unique in scale and detail.

Matthias Neumann is an artist and architect whose multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, public art, installation, and architectural design. His projects have been realized across the United States, Europe, and Africa, and his work has been featured at institutions and exhibitions including Manifesta 8, Galeria HIT, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Romania, SITE:Lab, the Queens Museum, the Montalvo Arts Center, and the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. Neumann is known for public artworks that explore material simplicity, spatial perception, and the resonance of shared cultural memory.

The Art on the Outside Program is the City of West Hollywood's temporary art program that installs rotating artworks throughout the City. The artworks can include sculpture, murals, digital art, and other outdoor works. Most exhibitions remain on display between six months and three years. All projects are subject to the Art on the Outside program review and approval process through the City's Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission. The program is funded through the Public Beautification & Art Fund.

The City of West Hollywood's Arts Division delivers a broad array of arts programs including Art on the Outside (temporary public art), Arts Grants, City Poet Laureate, Drag Laureate, Free Theatre in the Parks, Library Exhibits, Summer Sounds + Winter Sounds, Urban Art (permanent public art), WeHo Pride Arts Festival, and WeHo Reads. For more information about City of West Hollywood arts programming, please visit www.weho.org/arts.

For more information about this artwork or about the Art on the Outside Program, please contact Marcus Mitchell, the City of West Hollywood's Public Art Administrator, at [email protected] or at (323) 848 3122. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing dial 711 or 1-800-735-2929 (TTY) or 1-800-735-2922 (voice) for California Relay Service (CRS) assistance.

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For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about the City of West Hollywood, please contact the City of West Hollywood's Public Information Officer, Sheri A. Lunn, at (323) 848-6391 or [email protected].