Luke Erickson: Crow and Sand Fence, Santa Monica, 2018

Luke Erickson's Floating World: Pacific Coast Highway

Minneapolis-based photographer Luke Erickson’s Floating World: Pacific Coast Highway series captures an altogether unexpected view of that iconic stretch of road, California’s fabled Pacific Coast Highway. Drawing on his experience as a Hollywood location scout, Erickson explores aspects of place integral to our experience but all too often overlooked; the parking lots, signage, fences, roadside detritus and other aspects of the urban infrastructure.

The result is a striking combination of the extraordinary and the mundane; scenes that are all too familiar are reimagined through the photographer’s eye as interesting, even beautiful.

According to the artist, his work is about “ dreams and desire, through the careful examination of the social landscape, which includes natural and manufactured environments, monuments, routes, destinations, and fences and borders both real and imagined . . . My photographs serve as a meditation on the mythology of the American West." Additional sources include nineteenth century Japanese prints such  as Katsushika Hokusai’s "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji,” and Ando Hiroshige’s "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road," which established a new theme in Japanese art: ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world." 

Erickson worked with Monica J. Shilling to gift his series Floating World: Pacific Coast Highway to the Autry Museum in 2019.

Land Acknowledgment

The Autry Museum of American West acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). We recognize that the Autry Museum and its campuses are located on the traditional lands of Gabrielino/Tongva peoples and we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.

The Autry Museum in Griffith Park

4700 Western Heritage Way

Los Angeles, CA 90027-1462
Located northeast of downtown, across from the Los Angeles Zoo.
Map and Directions

Free parking for Autry visitors.


MUSEUM AND STORE HOURS
Tuesday–Friday 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Saturday–Sunday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

DINING
Food Trucks are available on select days, contact us for details at 323.495.4252.
The cafe is temporarily closed until further notice.