Two curators proposed a show for this fall and were asked instead to do one during the fair in May. The result is “Play Pavilion,” bringing together work by 63 artists.
Keith Ballard and Rebecca Ustrell co-curated “Play Pavilion,” the multi-artist exhibition in the Millard Sheets Art Center at the L.A. County Fair. Behind them is a mural by Willis Garcia Salomon, “MFA: Masters in Food Art.
” ‘s answer to Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, cheerfully putting on a show and benefiting from a combination of timing, preparation and luck.
“A week later, they asked us, ‘Could you move that up? ’ ” Ustrell said.
“They asked if we could do the fair. ” It was too big an opportunity to pass up, and the result, “Play Pavilion,” is on view now at the fair, whichTheir previous experience as curators amounted to a show last November in a room at the Claremont Chamber of Commerce for Art Walk. It rained that night. Only 20 people came.
“It was very microscopic,” Ustrell recalled. “It did push us to create a website, a QR code, an artistic mission statement. So when this came up, we were prepared. ” And because Ustrell has a side business as a zine publisher, she had a business license and insurance, lending further legitimacy.
Patrons walk through the Millard Sheets Art Center at the L.A. County Fair on Thursday, May 14 past the painting “Mr. Lucky” by Chaz Bojórquez. Still, she and Ballard now had to go big with an exhibit in the fair’s 12,000-square-foot gallery, and they had only two months to organize it.
With the aid of Vince Skelly and Seth Pringle, the other members of Claremont Temporary, they began making contact with fellow artists. In all, 63 artists are included, and most are from the Inland Empire or San Gabriel Valley. In March, Ustrell, who lives in Upland, and Ballard visited artist studios to pick up artwork. In April they were installing it in the gallery before the April 30 soft opening.
The fair is providing security and docents. Ballard and Ustrell paid for installation out of their own pockets. Well, the experience will look good on their résumés. Artists saw being in front of the masses at the county fair rather than in an art-focused environment as a benefit.
Only select people are going to step foot in a typical art gallery or museum, Ballard observed. Fairgoers, though, wander through the Sheets Art Center on their way to and from other attractions.
“The Baby Shower” by Gabriela Diaz occupies wall space and also floor space, with wooden alphabet blocks and other mock gifts, at the Millard Sheets Art Center at the L.A. County Fair. “Play Pavilion” has all sorts of art: paintings, video projection, carved wood, ceramics, photo collages, found objects, textiles, inkjet prints and more. One exhibit tag gives the medium as “glitter on cardboard.
” Ballard’s favorite piece is Noah Malone’s whimsical “The Fun Stops Here,” in which a ceramic hot dog attached to a motorized fishing pole drops onto a toy piano, hitting keys at random. I saw a video of it in which children reacted. John Van Hamersveld “They all came to the reception,” Ustrell said of the five artists.
“They set up a communal table in the courtyard and had dinner with their families. ”A low rider with custom art by Chaz Bojórquez is parked outside the Millard Sheets Art Center at the L.A. County Fair. Bojorquez and 62 other artists contributed to the exhibit “Play Pavilion: A Survey of Regional Creative Subcultures.
” along L.A. ’s Wilshire Boulevard opened to the public on May 4, a day after the fair’s opening. The new building and the crush of visitors are occupying 100% of LACMA’s attention and staffing.
“I don’t have one person I can send,” Michael Govan, the CEO, told me last month at LACMA during a preview for the Geffen Galleries. “We’ll be back next year. ” LACMA’s next major project is a South L.A. permanent building, its first satellite campus. The museum also has partnerships“While we have a site in East L.A.
, further east in Pomona would be great, too. Charles White was an experiment. Pomona would be more public,” Govan said.
“It gets a lot of foot traffic during the fair. I’m not so sure about the rest of the year,” he continued.
“But the building is near the entrance, and I like the building. ” The 1937 fine arts building has notable permanent artworks and the pedigree of its association with Millard Sheets. The Pomona-born painter, who oversaw development ofHowever, the building has security and climate control issues — there’s no air conditioning — that limit how a museum can use it for displaying or storing art.
“It needs a lot of work,” Govan said. How much, I asked? The CEO did a quick mental calculation. The Charles White upgrades cost $900,000.
The Sheets Center, he said, might need $1.5 million to $2 million. The fairgrounds are owned by Los Angeles County. Govan said the county government should invest in the building. The county’sIn that context, $2 million for the Sheets Center “would be a rounding error for the county,” Govan said with a chuckle.
Are you listening, Hilda Solis? As the county supervisor representing the San Gabriel Valley, maybe she can dig around in the county’s sofa cushions on the fair’s behalf. Steve Hilton, a candidate for governor, on May 9 filmed a video of himself outside a Del Taco in Barstow, holding a hardshell taco stuffed with cheese thatThe internet cracked up. The New York Times poked fun.
Some wiseguys wondered if, in California, this was disqualifying. Barstow is unaccustomed to being in the political spotlight. But I say that if there’s going to be a dust-up, where better than dusty Barstow? David Allen says yes to onions and cilantro Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.
Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339 and follow davidallencolumnist on Facebook or Instagram, @davidallen909 on X or @davidallen909.bsky.social on Bluesky.
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