Pasadena Magazine is the bi-monthly magazine of Pasadena and its surrounding areas – the diverse, historically rich and culturally vibrant region that includes Glendale, the Eastside of Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley all the way to Claremont.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/880808
graduating from Seoul American High School in 1969, Miripolsky moved to Los Angeles and was the first acting student accepted into the CalArts School of Theater. Throughout his twenties, he experienced much success in repertory theatre, but the stressful life of a stage actor began to take its toll; while playing the part of Leontes in The Winter's Tale at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in 1976, Miripolsky was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Burnt out, the actor decided to hang up his costume and pick up his brush. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Miripolsky held his first art show in a friend's apartment, selling a thousand dollars' worth of art in one night. For the next few years, he painted and participated in shows, but his big break came in 1980 when he received an invitation to decorate costumes for Elton John's world tour. One of the pieces Miripolsky cre- ated was the singer's piano outfit that remains rock 'n' roll iconic to this day. "I'd never done costumes before, but it's about being prepared when opportunity knocks," he muses. "He wore the embroidered outfit in front of 400,000 people in Central Park. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime gigs." On the heels of his newfound success, Miripolsky quit waiting tables at Pasadena's Hamburger Hamlet, finally able to fulfill his dream of being self-employed. Shortly after, he found himself in the company of Los Angeles restaurateur Wolfgang Puck, who tapped him to create installations for Spago Restaurants in Los Angeles and Tokyo. A near-fatal car crash landed Miripolsky in the hospital in 1984; he spent his recovery period assembling autobiographical illustrations inspired by the experience. Since then, his career highlights spanning the last three decades have included an Absolut Vodka campaign, muralizing the center basketball court for MTV at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion (which remains the only basketball court to be fully painted and played on), a live performance art piece in collaboration with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, creating original artwork for the music segments on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and commissions from Mattel, Bette Midler and Quincy Jones, to name a few. When walking around downtown, it's hard to miss Miripolsky's work—be it a sculpture in the Central City Association's lobby, a mural in Pershing Square, or his signature "Viva LA" catchphrase on billboards. Also an advocate of giving back, Miripolsky serves on the boards of the LA Art Alliance, the Downtown Art Walk and the Hollywood Arts Council. Not one to show signs of slowing down creatively, Miripolsky is already working on his next big project: the LA Historama. Slated for the LA Convention Center, his installation will depict the past, present and future of Los Angeles in stained glass panels manufactured by Highland Park-based Judson Studios, founded in Los Angeles in 1897. "To illustrate the history of Los Angeles in such a profound way is reaching my goal of 'making it,'" says Miripolsky. "It has a very deep emotional impact for me as a citizen and as an immigrant to the city. I could not be more overjoyed, honored and blessed to have this opportunity to give back to the place that I came to in order to achieve the American dream." 142 SEPTEMBER 2017 LA BRAND. Miripolsky's work abounds in Los Angeles from buses to billboards to numerous murals throughout the city.