'Bazaar' modern art festival opens at Cerritos College this Saturday

Pati Lomeli and Romina Del Castillo from Long Beach-based art collective FA4 work on their modern interpretation of Picasso’s “Guernica” for the 2017 FAR Bazaar at Cerritos College this weekend. Photos | William Odis Martin

NORWALK – The alternative art festival FAR Bazaar is celebrating its 40th anniversary this weekend inside the old, 30,000 square foot Fine Arts building at Cerritos College that is set for demolition in early February.

FAR stands for the Foundation of Art Resources--it is a non-profit organization comprised of artists and art professionals based in Los Angeles. FAR’s main objective is to help connect emerging artist with the public by assisting in the production and presentation of their work.

This weekend’s event will be quite the spectacle and guaranteed free fun for the whole family as more than 300 artists from throughout Southern California will occupy the 50 abandoned rooms to display their works. The talented visionaries will be converting the classic mid-century modernist building into the largest alternative art space the group has ever created.

James MacDevitt, an art professor at Cerritos College and member of the board of FAR, helped coordinate and organize the huge art festival that will host exotic food trucks, fire performances, live music, and various artists in celebration of this major milestone.

“We took the various collectives that are dispersed throughout Southern California and made Cerritos that connective point. We have artists from the High Desert, the Inland Empire, from Orange County, from Los Angeles and Long Beach. It really is the case that right here-- Cerritos, Artesia, Norwalk, are right smack dab in the center of everything yet sometimes it feels like we are a little marginal. This show is about kind of reestablishing us as the center of it all,” said MacDevitt.    

Graduate students from various Southern California art programs such as OTIS and a handful of UCs will be there, along with a collective called FA4 that was created by Cal State Long Beach alums.

Romina Del Castillo, a Peruvian artist and member of FA4, explained the message behind their large mural that was based off Picasso’s “Guernica”, with a modern twist.

“We basically took a historical painting and we added current events, like Aleppo and Black Lives Matter.  The original painting was about war and we thought it was fitting right now. It is kind of a wall of anxiety,” said Del Castillo.  

The show will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and free parking will be available in Lot 10 which is off 166th Street.