Meet Randlett King Lawrence | Sculptor/ Purveyor of Awe & Inspiration

We had the good fortune of connecting with Randlett King Lawrence and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Randlett King, how does your business help the community?
It’s thrilling to see visitors eyes light up. So many curious characters, friends and lovers, mothers and daughters, artists and adventurers, lovers of light and color, come from around the world to the Phantasma Gloria. They come in search of a thousand shining suns. And they find it here in RandylandLA. An NBC correspondent asked me recently what response do I value the most. The answer was easy. Inspiration. When teenagers tell me they’re “inspired” by the vast glass mosaic arcing across the sky, I’m stoked. It’s like heroin to me. For locals and for the world, the Phantasma Gloria radiates the magic, the creative possibilities, the inspiration that radiates from our surreal city.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The Phantasma Gloria is a vast glass mosaic of huge luminous lenses suspended in the sky. At sunset, you see a thousand shining shrunken sunsets in the foreground, and a single enormous sunset in the background. It’s a sublime psychedelic fractal experience. In each tear-drop shaped double lens, the sun appears every day as a singularity, as a single shining sun. Then it slowly splits into two suns, one going up and one going down. It’s blazing solar mitosis multiplied a thousand times. Between the many shrunken multi-colored skies, you’ll see sculptures of giant goddesses made of holes cut in sheets of steel. Bodacious Betty, the Goddess of invincibility is sometimes made of glowing pink clouds, sometimes sky blue, and sometimes seems to be on fire.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
To friends who come to LA I say: Go to the Mount Wilson Observatory! Towering over LA, the Observatory is the greatest testament to the greatest thing about southern Californians: it’s incredible exploratory spirit, it’s creative genius. Echo Park Avenue & Sunset is hipster heaven for the young and hungry or thirsty or lonely who young at heart Skin Diving in the La Jolla marine reserve is a mind blowing way to make your day. And hang-gliding at Torrey Pines will take your breath away.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

Let’s see: Shoutouts to:

> to Julia Carmel of the LA Times for her vision ands generosity of spirit in writing about the Phantasma Gloria, RandylandLA and yours truly.
> to Sabato “Simon” Rodia creator of the magnificent Watts Towers for paving the way;
> to my beloved ex-wife Nicole Lawrence who inspires me beyond measure.
> to my mother Patricia Jenny Lawrence and my sister Lee Stone, without whom I would be lost.

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Image Credits
Randlett King Lawrence