Fausto Fernandez x Open Space District program

The Los Angeles County Arts Commission Civic Art program was awarded a grant through the Open Space District program to develop innovative arts-based projects that promote the value of civic spaces and work to deter vandalism at four facilities in the Second Supervisorial District.

Artist Fausto Fernandez was selected for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s Civic Artist Pre-Qualified List and commissioned to design a public art project at The East Rancho Dominguez Community Center in East Rancho Dominguez Park, an unincorporated enclave in California surrounded by Compton, also known as East Compton.

For his project, Fernandez is inspired by the history of Dominguez Family who helped shape the history of Los Angeles and California, the initial landowners of the area dating back to 1784. Fernandez arranged a field trip and free tour of the Dominguez Adobe Museum for community members where they discussed important personal moments in the history of the East Rancho Dominguez community. Using this as inspiration for the development of an artwork for the East Rancho Dominguez Community Center, Fernandez created a mixed media assemblage of paint, reclaimed wood and corrugated metal that is inspired by the Dominguez Rancho Adobe and community history. The mission style architecture of the adobe is referenced in the shape of the panels throughout. Images will be silkscreened on these shapes capturing significant events like the earliest aviation air show in Los Angeles in 1910. This project aims to lessen the frequency of graffiti by engendering a sense of neighborhood pride in community history, progress and place. The project is expected to begin at the end of August 2015.