Artist Justen Ladda is a stickler for detail. His painstaking execution of detail and meticulous application of unusual material make for gorgeous sculpture, paintings and installations. His subjects are part of the natural environment, but that provoke contemplation from a unique perspective. A giant nose, a Swarovski bodice, a humanistic giraffe. Ladda’s work is aesthetically rewarding and intellectually compelling.
Ladda has parted ways with a prized creation that is part art car and part personal heirloom – his 1969 Camaro, a staple in his collection until recently. Let’s face it — in the green gas crunch, it’s not very practical for a New York artist to flex a work of muscle in a combustible city, so he sorrowfully sold the car after 15 years of material love.
Ladda, who was born in West Germany in 1953, is part of the fabric of the downtown art scene, where he has been a force since 1978. His work teases the boundaries dating back to The Thing, installed in an abandoned public school auditorium in the Bronx in 1981. He has created installations at the Artists’ Space, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. Ladda won the 1992 Art Commission Award for Excellence in Design for the project at Public School 7 in the Bronx. Look no further than Allan St. in the LES for his mark on the landscape.
