West Hollywood, California, USA, 2002

Starchief was one of six temporary art installations for West Hollywood's "Art on the Outside—Edges and Hedges" exhibit. It was located in the median of Santa Monica Boulevard, at the prominent entry from Beverly Hills into West Hollywood. The artwork addressed the "car culture" of Los Angeles and the manipulation of nature in the urban environment. Its primary element was a 1959 Pontiac Starchief, an iconographic classic car that references Santa Monica Boulevard’s history as the terminus of the old Route 66. The garden consisted of a succession of flowers, pumpkins, and grasses that changed throughout the six-month installation, moving from cultivated order to wild entropy and delighting daily commuters. 

Starchief was commissioned by the West Hollywood Arts Commission as part of the Art on the Outside exhibit.