Air Lease Corporation

Air Lease Corporation is one of the leading owners of aircraft leased to the world’s biggest airlines

When they started designing their headquarters in Los Angeles they called upon the expertise of the corporate art consultants at Kevin Barry Art Advisory. Working alongside a world-class architecture and design firm, we curated a sleek, aviation-themed art collection to make their vision soar.

For such a jet-setting company, you might be surprised that we decided to keep things local. Los Angeles-based artist Nick Petronzio created both of the large-scale sculptural art moments for this project. The first piece is a sculpture inspired by renderings of a Boeing 787, the kind often used in the construction phase of an aircraft. This sculpture is comprised of steel rods which was hand-formed, welded and painted with a metallic silver finish. The second sculpture is a fleet of paper planes, inspired by birds in flight. The ‘Paper Planes’ sculpture consists of thirty planes, each individually fabricated out of clear acrylic which was formed into a custom metal mold. The planes were then painted and arranged in formation with steel brackets and stand-off tabs for placement and wall mounting. In addition to Petronzio’s pieces, a smaller sculptural touch in the Air Lease office can be found in the row of custom-designed clocks whose typical clock numbers have been replaced by twelve model diecast airplanes.

Apart from sculpture, photography is the medium most often found in this space. A photograph of an aircraft engine is printed on individual aluminum panels, floating off the wall. Additional large photographic prints on aluminum can be found on either side of the boardroom at Air Lease. Each photo depicts a surreal view of a flock of aircraft in flight. Upon closer inspection, you can see each plane is branded with a different airline insignia, representing the global reach of the Air Lease Corporation. Elsewhere in the building, a photograph by artist Laird Kay featuring an enormous reflective silver aircraft is printed on canvas. Still more of his photography can be found throughout the office, reminding employees to take a moment to remember the miracle of flight as they move through their day.