Angie Lopez Yepes
Staff Writer
The Millard Sheets Art Center at the Fairplex in Pomona features “Shifting Aesthetics,” an exhibit displaying 11 contemporary artists from the Los Angeles area.
Although the artists specialize in various media, the theme allowed for all of the artists work to fit together as a whole.
“I hope they can take away the diversity and perspectives and ideas and talents of those artists that are living and practicing in LA.,” Visual Arts Manager Dee Campos said.
Campos said she wanted this exhibit to represent and celebrate the city of Los Angeles.
The museum features three distinct areas – a front, main and back gallery.
The front gallery portrays the exhibit’s title, “Shifting Aesthetics,” in black, against a white wall.
Continuing with the theme of black and white, several geometrical shapes of that color can be seen to the right of the gallery, giving off the affect of an optical illusion as the lines in the work curve toward the middle.
The main gallery is where most of the artists work can be found. This space is open, with walls covered in the featured paintings, portraiture, lights, and ceramic vessels of the artists, leaving any air of emptiness once perceived at the door.
“I see a lot of creativity and artists showing what they care about the most [like] popular figures that stood out to them,” said Michelle Kallon, who was visiting gallery.
Artists honed in on a theme that featured either a connection to the food and shops of their childhood, or personal family mementos and objects.
Informative summaries about the artists and their work were displayed to provide guests with more context as they explored the exhibit.
“I feel that the artists are trying to bridge the gap between the older generation and the newer generation that is trying to take over,” Derick Galan, another visitor to the exhibit.
Unlike the vibrancy in the front and main galleries of the museum, the back gallery was veiled in darkness and silence.
Instead of the stark contrasts of color seen in the rest of the artwork, this focused instead on the contrast between sound and movement.
Here, a video was shown that fluctuated through variances of speed and noise with no accordance to the movement of the colorful pinwheel within the work.
Although differing from the rest of the work shown, the theme of connection, whether through contrasting ideas, aesthetics and mediums or through personal family relics, remained the same.
“I loved the way all the artwork seemed to categorize something differently, yet complete each other as a whole,” said Jennifer Lascano of West Covina, who attended the exhibit.
General admission to the Los Angeles County Fair covers ticket price for entrance into the Millard Sheets Art Center.
Once the fair ends, the exhibit will remain open and free to the public through Nov. 3.
Angie Lopez Yepes can be reached at angie.lopezyepes@laverne.edu.
