Fair Exchange

Accompanying Fair Exchange is a 96-page, full-color, fully-illustrated catalogue in an edition of 1500 (ISBN-13: 978-0-9789111-0-2 and ISBN-10: 0-9789111-0-5) designed by Department of Graphic Sciences with essays by curators Irene Tsatsos, Glenn Phillips, Jeff Cain, Julie Deamer, and Veronica Wiman; an introduction by Millard Sheets Gallery Executive Director Dan Danzig; and an exhibition checklist and artist biographies.

The Millard Sheets Gallery at the Los Angeles County Fair will present Fair Exchange, a group exhibition by 28 Los Angeles-based artists and collectives, for the annual L.A. County Fair, September 8 – October 1, 2006.

Traditionally, the Fair has been a celebration of regional domestic and agricultural arts and sciences. Although fairs and art galleries share the practice of exhibition as a way to communicate cultural meaning and values, historical boundaries have distinguished one tradition from the other. Fair Exchange aims to challenge these barriers and open a meaningful dialogue between artists, fairgoers, and art audiences. At the same time, the participants in Fair Exchange make work that falls into categories that are appropriate for the county fair as a venue, including work that employs crafts that are typically put into competitions at the fair; work that deals with agrarian and domestic subject matters; work that engages with politics at the local and regional levels; and work that takes the fair itself as subject matter. Within the broader thematic framework of the Los Angeles living experience, the participants in Fair Exchange will produce, for example: knitwear that bears sociopolitical commentary; a meditative mandala constructed of prizes from the Fair’s midway; “Urban Ranger” tours of the Fairgrounds that illuminate the cultural history of the Fair; edible garden kiosks proffering sustainable land use models; the time-honored New Photography competition juried by the competition’s own entrants and the public via the web; and a public forum for presentation of social and artistic ideas.

In addition to the works displayed in the Millard Sheets Gallery, a number of projects in Fair Exchange will be dispersed throughout the fairgrounds itself, including works that have been integrated into the Fair’s exhibitions of crochet, quilting, knitwear, tablescaping, and Christmas tree decoration.

In conjunction with the exhibit, there will be a rich and extensive program of performances, concerts, workshops, demonstrations, and educational events.

Participants: Lisa Anne Auerbach; Enid Baxter Blader; Nao Bustamante; Jeff Cain and Shed Research Institute; Gary Cannone for Outpost for Contemporary Art; Civic Matters; Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn; Karl Erickson; Fallen Fruit: David Burns, Matias Viegener, and Austin Young; Robert Fontenot; Fritz Haeg and Gardenlab; Institute For Figuring; Adrià Julià; Martin Kersels; Karen Kimmel; D’nell Larson; Los Angeles Urban Rangers; Daniel Marlos; Jamie McMurry; New Chinatown Barbershop; Julie Orser; Jessica Rath; George Stoll; Mercedes Teixido; Melissa Thorne; Rubén Ortiz Torres; Elizabeth Tremante; Andre Yi

Curators: Exhibition curator: Irene Tsatsos Consulting Curators: Glenn Phillips; Jeff Cain; Julie Deamer; Veronica Wiman.

Pressetext

Fair Exchange
Kuratoren: Irene Tsatsos, Glenn Phillips, Jeff Cain, Julie Deamer, Veronica Wiman

mit Lisa Anne Auerbach, Enid Baxter Blader, Nao Bustamante, Jeff Cain & Shed Research Institute, Gary Cannone for Outpost for Contemporary Art, Civic Matters, Harry Dodge & Stanya Kahn, Karl Erickson, Fallen Fruit: David Burns, Matias Viegener, Austin Young, Robert Fontenot, Fritz Haeg and Gardenlab, Institute For Figuring, Adria Julia, Martin Kersels, Karen Kimmel, D´Nell Larson, Los Angeles Urban Rangers, Daniel Marlos, Jamie McMurry, New Chinatown Barbershop, Julie Orser, Jessica Rath, George Stoll, Mercedes Teixido, Melissa Thorne, Ruben Ortiz Torres, Elizabeth Tremante, Andre Yi